The success of an event is predicated on the design of the event. When I was a caterer, I thought the food was the most important thing and the first thing the guests noticed. As our business evolved into event marketing and event production I learned that the invitation is the critical first impression guests have of an event. A theme by itself does not add impact. The audience needs to interpret it. Audiences don’t listen, they wait to be entertained, astounded, and surprised. If you give them what they expect they soon come to expect very little. You need multiple hooks to get folks away form their big screen TV’s at home.

In general the media and non profits do a better job than corporate on their events.

My favorite event was an event we did for the American Bus Association on the night of the Ravens Super Bowl victory in 2001. We had 3000 potential ambassadors coming to our city from all over the country that could refer Baltimore for future events. The event was held at Camden Yards. We recreated a montage of Maryland with everything form the life sized Pimlico horse complete with a betting race track, to mountains they could scale representing Western Maryland, to sailboats representing the Eastern shore, to a Maryland Legends area featuring Maryland Olympic and Special Olympic athletes that the guests could meet and greet.. The Super Bowl field we designed with a big screen video and flying Ravens landing on the goal posts was popular, but the guests spread out over the 15 different themed areas and had an incredible time.

Fiske Caterers began in 1900 with a European tradition of old world elegance and dedication to lavish service and beautiful food.

The Goldsmith family took over the business in 1961. In 1983 Fiske opened a restaurant in Roland Park. In 1986 Fiske purchased Millrace caterers a large corporate catering company that specialized in large corporate Holiday receptions and corporate picnics for groups up to 10,000 people. In 1993 Treats Caterers an upscale Washington D.C. caterer was purchased and added to the company.

In 1993 Blake Goldsmith, President of Fiske Caterers and Extraordinary Events, founded the Catering Association of Maryland.

Blake currently serves on the board of United Way, Baltimore Washington Development Council, Sales and Marketing Executives, Johns Hopkins Adolescent Health and Hygiene, and is past President of the Retail Business District License (RBDL) association with over 2000 members.


Extraordinary Events is the result of 25 years of successful growth in the event industry. 

 Gerarld R. Patnode, Jr.

Patnode is an imaginative and innovative senior executive with excellent academic training and street-smart skills. His experience was gained through progressive experiences in enterprise creation, new business development and organizational development for a variety of world class international organizations. Pace is noted as a dynamic professional public speaker. He is a former radio and television personality and a former columnist for regional business publications. 

 J. Jason Hoffman

Hoffman has more than ten years of hospitality and event coordination experience, most recently as the Baltimore sales consultant for Select Event Rentals. Prior to that he was the Event and Facility Coordinator at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Hoffman has assisted in planing events for several non-profit organizations including the National Federation of the Blind, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and the Baltimore Museum of Industry. He assists Extraordinary Events with their website and office technology.

David Thomas Sckrabulis

With the eye of a visual artist since childhood, David Sckrabulis was among the first class of freshmen to enroll and graduate from the acclaimed Carver Center for Art and Technology. He studied film production at the New York Film Academy and subsequently earned a B.F.A. in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art concentrating on video production.

In 2001, David formed Eight Eye Productions, Inc., a Baltimore area film company that has showcased local talent throughout the area through a variety of award winning film and television projects. More recently, he produced and directed "Two Front Teeth", a full-length motion picture that is currently distributed by Unearthed Films nationwide.

Expanding his career into news television, David worked as a photojournalist and editor at the Washington DC bureau for Sinclair Broadcast Group providing stations across the country with daily national news coverage and website content. While with Sinclair he also worked on the Emmy award winning news program American Crossroads as photojournalist and editor. Projects for network television programming and film production are ongoing.

Drawing upon his success in film and television production, David formed Media Edge Video in 2008 with a focus on marketing and promotional video coverage as well as legal video services and television production.

Charles A. Eby, III

With over 25 years in advertising, marketing, and consulting, Mr. Eby brings the strength of his experience to the Extraordinary Events team. Most recently, he directed and developed Internet-based commerce applications for the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the national trade association for the mutual fund industry. At ICI, he also directed programs and events for the association’s corporate members. Prior to that Mr. Eby was an executive at Fidelity Investments, where he was responsible for directing that firm’s database marketing and mailing programs.

Mr. Eby possesses a broad set of skills in several disciplines, including: direct marketing, fundraising development, electronic business strategies, and client management.

In addition to clients within the financial services industry, Mr. Eby’s clients have included: The Cousteau Society, Maryland Public Broadcasting, Nature Conservancy, MCI, Boston’s Children's Hospital, and the US Navy.

A native of Baltimore, Mr. Eby received his BS in Engineering from MIT, and an MBA from Boston University. He resides in Baltimore with his wife and 2 children.

Bonnie Pace

Pace brings twenty years of sales and marketing experience to the Events Marketing and Management firm. Her background includes sales management with a National Restaurant chain, regional sales in Baltimore/Washington with a Harbor Cruise company, Director of Sales of a Washington area hotel and conference center, and VP of Sales and Marketing with a Washington DC helicopter sightseeing company.

Pace will focus on corporate events in Howard County and the Baltimore/Washington corridor, working closely with the Howard County chamber and other civic groups.