Saturday night proved to be a marathon for locals. Mayor Mike Rawlings had more than five events to attend and barely made it to dinner with wife Micki and their daughter, Michelle, who was in from New York. Lynn McBee started off the morning assisting in the dedication of her family’s home in Freeport. And the poor, worn out MySweetCharity just scurried around trying to avoid traffic jams
Triple Crown Gala
The Park Lane Equestrian Center is usually swamped on a Saturday, but with the horse folks pulling in for Equest’s Triple Crown Gala, it was a parking tsunami for everyone. Well, nearly everyone. Hampton, Sugar, Tex, Fabio, Zeus, Hank and Crunchie were smart and got there way early. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t exactly their idea, but the Equest management team were on top of things getting the four-legged members of the Equest program in the prep pen long before the traffic jam took place. Course it didn’t hurt that they had their own pathway via the property’s stable.
Greeting guests like Val Imm Bashour were 8-year-old Carson Browning in blue blazer, white shirt, tie and sunglasses, and miniature horses Sugar and Tex. In addition to occasionally pulling a cart, the twosome have become the Equest ambassadors. Not only are they user friendly, they’re small enough to transport easily. Across the way was Hampton, who was another story. Yes, the big guy is friendly, but compact he ain’t.
Once inside, the VIP reception with singer Collin Raye was taking place. First up for the meet-greet-grin was the Beale family. Grandpa Bryan had plotted with the Equest people for weeks as a surprise for wife Carolyn to meet her fav singer. The occasion? The Beales’ 40th anniversary and Carolyn’s birthday. Joining them for the photo opp were grandkids Caleb and Kennedy.
Just as the photos were starting to be snapped, Gala Chair Jocelyn White arrived all decked out in white lace blouse, black cowgal hat and leather chaps plus loads of turquoise jewelry. She was all ready to make a grand entrance on her fav equine hunk Fabio, who was getting all duded up with saddle and glittery mega-star brand. You know, the kind that doesn’t hurt but is very impressive.
Speaking of the prep area, Retired Navy Commander Jeff Hensley was introducing his 9-year-old daughter Kacey to some of the Equest mares and geldings. Once again Fabio was the standout, as Jeff pointed, “They did his toenails!”
After serving two tours in Desert Storm and later Operation Iraqi Freedom during the surge, he got his masters in counseling from the University of North Texas on the GI Bill and became the Equest program counselor for its Hooves for Heroes program.
Earth Day Dallas Dinner
With the street in front of the Hall of State filled with booths from the Earth Day Dallas festivities, guests parked down the road for the Earth Day Dallas seated dinner hosted by Trammell S. Crow.
Speaking of “crows,” National Audubon Society CEO/President David Yarnold was in attendance. In addition to being only the 10th person to hold that position, David’s leadership abilities have covered many areas in both the environmental arena and journalism. While assistant managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News in 1989, the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for general reporting for its coverage of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. In 2005 he was one of three finalists for the 2005 Pulitzer for editorial writing. It was in 2005 that he joined the Environmental Defense Fund, becoming executive director/president in 2008. It was in 2010 that he joined the Audubon Society to change the direction of the group: “This isn’t your grandmother’s Audubon anymore. And she’d be proud of us.”
Others in the audience included National Audubon Society board member Mary McDermott Cook with Dan Patterson, who was now off crutches from his ski accident but still taking it gingerly. . . 2014 Dallas Historical Society President Lynn McBee, who had had a very long day. She had started the day in Freeport, where she spoke at a ceremony donating her great-grandmother’s house to the local historical society. It will be a historic museum/meeting hall. Lynn recalled how the house was where her family spent Thanksgivings, Christmases and Easter egg hunts. The land had been purchased in 1915, but the Queen Anne-style house made of Cyprus wood had been vacant since 1983. Her family decided to donate it and paid for a lot of the restoration.. . Former DHS President Diane Bumpas, just two days shy of her birthday, was with her son Joe. . . Others in the crowd included Jack Bunning with Jeff Sauers, Margaret and Lester Keliher, Alina and Ruben Esquivel and Justin Whitman.
With the mega-murals of Texas History and the state of Texas on the Great Hall’s walls, Trammell told the group that included Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings:
- Since Dallas’s first year doing Earth Day, the headcount has gone from 1K people to 48K people. When the Dallas team announced they had had the biggest Earth Day in the world, New York denied them that right. According to NYC, they’d had 50K. But Trammell countered reporting that the Big Apple had had five different little ones in Manhattan. . . “We have biggest number of exhibitors. We had 730 booths!”
- Earth Day Dallas needs to change name of the event to “Earth Day Texas. That’s the only way Fort Worth will come to our show!”
- The Earth Day Dallas isn’t a “crunchy” earth day here, but one that’s backed big-time by corporations like Home Depot, TXU, Kimberly-Clark and Caterpillar: “So you can be green while you’re tearing up the Earth! Only in Dallas, Texas!” In other words, this is the “pro-business Earth Day. You’re not gonna see that in San Francisco!”
In introducing Mayor Mike, Trammell quoted Val Kilmer from “Citizen Twain:” “’The only difference between trying and triumph is the oomph.’ And Mayor Mike Rawlings has the oomph!”
Mike recalled back in 1972 when he was 17, he persuaded his high school to have an Earth Day. “You’d have thought it was Woodstock!” Like Trammell said, ‘It’s individuals who make things happen, but as Liza Minnelli sang in Cabaret, it’s money that makes the world go round.’ We need to make this [event] a groundswell. Come to Fair Park. One of the best places in America. We must continue to work on Fair Park. How to leverage this asset. Trammell, you are the captain of oomph on this project, as far as I’m concerned.”
Following a video, Mike introduced State Fair of Texas President Errol McKoy, observing that, “People say to me, ‘Mike how’s this mayor thing going for you?’ “Not good, I say. Had a bad couple of years. I lost J.R. and Big Tex!”
It was a perfect opportunity for Errol to share the big-picture plans for Fair Park emphasizing the $30M Summer Adventures that will be open from May to August. It will include the Top of Texas, the tallest ride in the U.S., that will open on June 6.
Afterwards getting a sky preview of the 25-acre Summer Adventures via the Texas Skyway, Errol was asked if this summer venue was competing with Six Flags. The former Six Flag “host” said, “We don’t think so. It’s not a theme park, an amusement park, a museum or a water park. It’s all of them combined! . . . We think because it’s Dallas-based, about half the price of Six Flags, and half the [time] commitment involved, we’ll get young local families on the go.”
He continued saying this would be just the first of several major attractions. . . [that will] make it a year-round destination, eventually.
But for the summer program, Errol has cool plans. . . literally. There will be shade structures, misters, a cool pool for dangling feel, 4,000 plants, dog shows, cat shows, etc.
“I wanted to do this before I retire,” Errol said about the project that took three years to develop and was designed entirely in-house “with our staff.”
In addition to creating a new venue, Summer Adventures will provide 700 new jobs.
Greer Garson Gala
While the dress may have been equine-friendly and business casual at the previous two events, it was strictly top drawer over at the Omni Hotel Dallas, according to this report:
“The 2013 Greer Garson Gala, themed An Evening in Cannes, was a great success! The chairs were Jennifer and Chris LeLash and Barbara and Stan Rabin served as honorary chairs. The evening kicked off with a sponsor cocktail reception at 6 p.m. and the main cocktail hour began at 7 p.m. Guests were invited to gamble in a charitable casino and partake in a fabulous silent auction.
“The dinner and entertainment began at 8 p.m. and was hosted by Marc Fein of NBC 5. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital employee and patient Sonya Manibusan spoke on her experience as a patient at Texas Health. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and then found out she was pregnant. Her emotional story told of the amazing support and help she received at Texas Health and how faith brought her through her through. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl despite the radiation during her chemotherapy whom she named Faith.
“As a special surprise, guests were given 3D glasses to watch a video featuring Greer Garson herself! The video was a plea to the audience to give to the children at Texas Health in 3D. The video was very moving and helped kick off the Fund-To-Cause “3 minute challenge.” Afterwards, in just three minutes, the Gala raised more than $28,000 – a new record! INSIGHT and Dr. Ivan Bank were the Fund-To-Cause Sponsor.
“Guests then enjoyed a delicious dinner of a Lotus Root Salad, Hoisin Marinated Beef Filet with Nuoc Cham Potatoes and chocolate pecan tart for dessert.
“Guests danced throughout the night to entertainment by Hunter Sullivan and continued to bid on silent auction items and play casino games.
“All proceeds from the event supported Women and Infant Services in the Margot Perot Center at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.”
* Photo credit: Kristina Bowman