One of the must attend big ticket gala of the summer for Chicago and North Shore’s society crowd, Summer Dinner Dance at the Chicago Botanic Garden, took place Friday, June 19 under a large tent filled with peonies, boxwoods and hydrangeas commemorating the 125th anniversary of the Chicago Horticultural Society, which operates the Chicago Botanic Garden together with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.
The annual event was co-chaired this year by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Canmann, Mr. and Mrs. W. Sanford Kasten, Mr. and Mrs. Mark W. Madigan, and Mr. and Mrs. Philip S. Merlin (Susan Merlin of Lake Forest, Steffie Madigan of Winnetka, Susan Canmann of Winnetka and Jen Kasten of Chicago) who were joined by about 425 guests of friends, supporters, outgoing CEO Sophia Shaw and sponsors, raising $500,000 to support the garden’s initiatives.
Related: Life Lessons from The C-Suite: Chicago Botanic Garden’s Sophia Shaw
Guests hailed from some of the toniest areas including Chicago (Suzette Bulley, Elizabeth and Lawrence Ryan, Patrick and Meredith Wood-Prince, Marko Iglendza and Neal Zucker, Peter and Shana Ellis, John Fornengo, Randy and Kimberly Burt, Eric A. and Arin Reeves, Nickol and Darrel Hackett), Glenview (Kelly and David Zitlow), Lake Forest (Andy and Amy Wells, Katie Donovan, Chrissy Davis, Whitley Bouma Herbert, Melissa Goltra, Julie Gish), Winnetka (Michael and Cathy Busch, Francine and Greg Purcell, Clay and Amy Brock), Kenilworth (Connie and David Coolidge) and even Pleasant Praire, WI (Julie and Joe Tominaro).
- Patrick Wood-Prince, Marko Iglendza, Neal Zucker
- Randy and Kimberly Burt
- Meredith Wood-Prince and Avery Keller
- Katie Donovan, Chrissy Davis, Whitley Bouma Herbert, Melissa Goltra, Julie Gish
- Suzette Bulley, Matthew and Laura Anderson
Following the cocktail reception at the Rose Garden Terrace, they were seated for a Limelight Catered dinner.
Guest Lisa FitzSimons of Winnetka must have checked out our What To Wear & Where as she made the scene in our recommended Alice + Olivia gown(pictured below R).
The entertainment portion of the evening was provided by The Gold Coast All Stars where guests danced the night away. Upon leaving they were gifted a copy of the book Chicago and Its Botanic Garden: The Chicago Horticultural Society at 125
You may have been wondering what they did with all those flowers at the end of the night? It didn’t go to waste, it was donated to Random Acts of Flowers–Chicago where its volunteers collect and sort donated floral arrangements to create beautiful new bouquets and deliver them to patients in hospitals and residents in senior-care facilities.
[new_royalslider id=”72″] *photo credit: Robin Carlson
