Palm Beach Chapter Party Has Style!

Palm Beach is famous for its high society lifestyle. While I didn’t see Donald Trump or Paris Hilton at the FNGLA Palm Beach Chapter Christmas party, the party and the Palm Beach members have plenty of their own style! Dress for this event was “up” as in black tie optional and the setting was the Palm Beach National Golf & Country Club.
Palm Beach mixes fun with business at its Holiday Party. While everyone has plenty of opportunity to eat, drink, dance and mix and mingle, there is also serious fundraising going on for the chapter and its causes. Raffle tickets are sold throughout the evening with a small room dedicated to the raffle prizes. Numbers were called throughout the night so people had a chance to flaunt their prizes and encourage others to buy tickets.
In the center of the room was a fabulous array of creative and fun gift baskets which were being sold in a silent auction format.
I didn’t count how many there were, but I’m guessing at least 40. I think Lyn Cacella was the organizer of the baskets and she and her crew deserve a big "Atta Girl" for a very diverse collection of enticing gifts. Everything from sports themes to plants and gift certificates. I went around the table 3 times trying to decide on which to bid. It felt just like being on a shopping trip. As it turns out, I bid on 3 of them and went home empty handed. I think I need more practice on this silent auction bidding routine. I’ve decided, like a lot of things in life, timing is the key to winning the prize!

One of the best benefits of going to so many chapters is catching up with FNGLA friends who I don’t get to see as often as I’d like. The Palm Beach party was no exception. I was honored to sit at the President’s table, which means I sat with 2 of my Wedgworth alum buds, Mike and Susie Graham. Mike is Palm Beach Chapter president this year. He and I were classmates in Class IV of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute. Susie and I became friends during those 2 years as well. Mike was well prepared to lead the evening’s program as he had kept his notes and reminders close to his plate and Susie helped him keep things moving.

The festivities started with a champagne toast by Fred Marrero with Atlas Peat. Very classy, but then I’m biased. I happen to love champagne, so any champagne toast is a good one as far as I’m concerned.

Just as dinner was drawing to a close, President Mike (tall guy on the right in the photo) was back at the microphone to give a surprise award to Joe Mulvehill for his long time coordination of the holiday party. It is quite an endeavor to put these events together year after year!
Then Mike announced the winner of the chapter’s highest award, the James J. Lulfs Industry Service Award for 2009 went to Dave Self. His long list of services covered not only chapter activities, but also the many roles he has had on the state level, including serving as state FNGLA President in 2007-08. This was followed by one of the traditional highlights of the party, the live auctioning of the original painting used for the cover of the Palm Beach Locator. The proceeds from this go to Hoskins McDougal Horticulture Scholarship Fund. This year the bidding reached $1000 with Joe Mulvehill (or maybe his wife) going home with a new painting for his walls.

Billy and Linda Butterfield, my central Florida travelling cohorts, and their new best friends, Joe and Lenore Cialone were seated together. They had spent the day touring the grand homes of Palm Beach, while my FNGLA trade show colleague, Jessica Oliver and I took care of some TPIE business in Ft. Lauderdale during the day. Jesse stayed for the Palm Beach party (her 2nd FNGLA Christmas party of the season) and she was sitting at the “troublemakers” table with Deb Joneck and Matt Antos. My guess is Jesse was the ringleader of the troublemakers.
When we were told to look under our chairs for a sticker to claim the centerpieces on the table, Jesse tore off the actual chair tag under her seat and tried to use it to win the centerpiece. I think the group took pity on her and let her take the plant home!

Although this party had lots of activities going on, there was plenty of time left for dancing. One of my favorite moments was watching Syd and Suzanne Spears slow dancing, still a couple of love birds with a lot of style! As the dancing continued, my travel party (Billy, Linda and Jesse) and I said our goodbyes. We had decided to do an “all-nighter” and drive back to Orlando that night. We piled in Billy’s truck and headed north with our prizes, plants and good memories of a stylish and swinging group of FNGLA members!