On
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 Scully & Scully, the Park
Avenue landmark store, hosted a reception to celebrate the Fund for
Park Avenue and the “Park Avenue Tulips” which will bloom
in orange this year to honor the 400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson's
arrival in New York harbor in a Dutch East India Company ship. The
store is also celebrating an anniversary – their 75th year in
the same location, so the mood was grand and festive.
Sixty thousand tulips are blooming on the Park Avenue Malls from 54th
Street to 86th Streets. These malls are cared for by The Fund for Park
Avenue, a non-profit charity, which has planted and maintained them
for over 29 years. Operating on a budget that is completely
dependant upon donations, The Fund plants, lights and maintains the
trees and flowers on the Park Avenue Malls.
Michael E. Scully, president of Scully & Scully, and Barbara McLaughlin,
president of The Fund for Park Avenue, greeted over 200 guests including
New York City Parks Department Commissioner William Castro, Deputy
Commissioner Liam Kavanagh, City Council members Jessica Lappin and
Dan Garodnick, Netherlands Consul General Gajus Scheltema and Barbara
C. Fratianni of Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission.
On the main floor, S&S designers created five stunning table settings
inspired by women on the committee. Muffie Potter
Aston imagined “A Birthday Party in New York for the Twins and
Friends,” hosted by her daughters Ashleigh and Bracie, of course. Helena
Martinez lent personal photos for “Dining in Palm Beach with
Family and Friends.” Mary Davidson's was “The Beauty
of Spring in Provence.” Gay Hackett did “Celebrity Lunch
in Beijing,” complete with place cards “in Chinese” for “George
Bush, Santa Claus, Robert Redford and Carla Sarkosy.” And Polly
Sheehan did “Entertaining The Society of Daughters of Holland
Dames". Obviously, hers caught the attention of the Dutch contingent,
which included Lisa Beth MacKinlay, Scott Banerjee, Barbara Bataille,
Penny Fulweiler, Pamela Meyjes, and Michele Muttia.
The committee included Alison Byers, Evie Brown, Maureen Chilton,
Blair Clarke, Amy Mazzola Flynn, Martha Glass, Audrey Gruss, Nicole
Limbocker, Calvert Moore, Emilia Pfeifler and Burwell Schorr. Jo-Ann
M. Polise is the Executive Director of The Fund, whose Directors are:
Chairman Ronald D. Spencer, Esq., Mary Davidson, Martin D. Gruss, Gay
Hackett, Derek L. Limbocker, James F. McCollum, Jr., Judith T. Steckler,
Margaret M. Ternes.
Guests included Konrad Keesee, Wendy Carduner, Anne Nordeman, Jim Ternes,
Robert Semple, David Frey, Allison Mazzola, Chris Meigher, Leslie Jones
and Peter Jones, Daisy Soros, Mario Buatta, Missie Taylor, Ingrid Edelman
and Tom Edelman, Eliza Nordeman, Mark Gilbertson, Jennifer Bradford
Davis, Tom Guinzburg and Victoria Anstead, John Glass, Michèle
Gerber Klein, Mark Schinerman, Karen May and Tony May, Andria Vizcarrondo
and Paul Vizcarrondo, Lacy Baldwin, Marvin Davidson, Leslie Brille,
Gillian Miniter and Sylvester Miniter, Georgina Schaefer, Michel Cox
Witmer, Ashley Reid, Bates Brown, Patricia Burnham, Dan Oliver, Kate
Donner, Jonathan Giesen, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Withington, Noreen
Buckfire, Doug Steinbrech, Stephen Attoe and Pat Attoe, Blaine Caravaggi
and Jay Jolly from Swifty's.
Scully & Scully charitably donated 10% of the proceeds from sales
in the store the evening of the party and for the two following days
to The Fund for Park Avenue. Cecily F. Grand, provided the floral displays
and centerpieces, Eleni's New York gave the orange tulip sugar
cookies. There was background music by Alex Donner and renowned harpist
Jose Luis Rodriguez.
