Parties & Openings
May 20 - New MarlboroughVIM's Annual Chefs' Dinner |
May 18 - PittsfieldBerkshire Museum Wine Gala |
May 18 - Sharon13th Annual Trade Secrets Fair |
A Pleasant (Valley) Evening of Crickets, Critters & Cocktails Fires Up Support for Mass Audubon
Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Lenox.
The annual fundraiser for Mass Audubon’s Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries, Crickets, Critters & Cocktails, boasts a winning formula. Take one beautiful evening on a lushly verdant property – in this case, July 30 at Pleasant Valley – decorate with colorful banners and crittery kites from Barong Imports (for sale, with half the proceeds going to Mass Audubon); stage a silent auction with surprisingly affordable items; ply guests with frosty drinks and fresh-grilled food; boost the festive quotient with swinging jazz by Lurid Details; and finish the evening with a bonfire and a drum circle. “Drum circle?,” you say, thinking you might instead beat a hasty retreat. With drumming facilitator Otha Day setting the rhythm, most guests opted in, grabbing a seat on a fireside bench and a bongo, tambourine, or other percussive instrument to bang the drum loudly late into the night.
Event co-chairs Mary Garnish and Alan Bauman greeted guests; Dr. Michael Kaplan, a member of the Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries committee, with innkeepers Suky and Tom Werman.
Doctors Mark Liponis, of Canyon Ranch, and Siobhan McNally, board chair of Circle of Health International; drum circle facilitator Otha Day and Brad Verter, a professor of history at Emerson College.
Elena, Eric, and Andrea Nucifora; Mission proprietor Jim Benson with Scott Chadwick.
Gentle prices and environmentally oriented lots, such as guided canoe trips and bird-watching adventures, kept the silent auction bidding lively.
Jewelry designer Martha Archambault, who donated a necklace for the silent auction, and John Bridges; Kevin and Kristine Sprague.
Studio 2’s Heather Rose and Kathleen Drohan, associate director of public relations at Tanglewood; Mayme Stansfield, a fashion assistant at Lucky magazine, with her stepmother, nonprofit consultant Cathy Deely.
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
Posted by Bess Hochstein on 08/01/11 at 05:08 PM • Permalink
