Spencertown Academy's Twilight in the Garden

On Friday, June 24, Madeline Hooper and Ian Hooper (left),  turned up at the Spencertown Academy's Twilight in the Garden benefit well prepared.  What they found, thanks to hosts Jerry Croghan and Louis Hedgecock's spacious barn and adjacent tent, was a waterproof "garden" party in full swing, with sublime food, as always, by the Academy's all-volunteer in-house caterers, Let's Eat, and rocking entertainment by singer-songwriter Cathy Grier, aka "the New York City subway girl."  Friday night's party was a prelude to Saturday's lecture by Margaret Roach, of A Way to Garden fame, and the Academy's 7th annual Hidden Gardens tour.

Cathy Grier setting up; Academy board member Barbara Deisroth, pianist Michael Collier, who will be giving a concert at the Academy in the fall, and appraiser/auctioneer Rupert Fennell

Lydia Kukoff and Kathy Peer; Academy president Nick Van Alstine, screenwriter John Orloff, and Lee Rose Emery

Chuck Weinlein, Betsy Howard, and Shawn Hartley-Hancock; Ann Raimes, James Raimes, and Jack Krauskopf

Greg Vogler and David Highfill; Karen Solem and Ruth Reichl

Wayne Greene and Madaline Spark, Spencertown-based garden designer and contributing garden editor for Real Simple magazine; doppelgängers Allan Davidson and George Jahn

Cindy Puccio, Steve Pearlman, Frank Heller, photographer Christian Steiner, who is creative director of the Tannery Pond Concerts, and Nansi Friedman

Ingrid Greenfield and Byron Greenfield; Ranjini Pillay, Eleanor Oldham, and John Luckacovic

Susan Nesbitt, Rich Nesbitt, and Gary Katz; Leslie Katz, Christine Callender, Alan Fishman, and Brad Barr

Peter Bevacqua and Stephen King, whose garden was on the tour; Mara Estribou and Adam Hall

Novelist Ann Darby and Academy director of education Mary Ann Lee; Margaret Garriques and Rod Fowler