This view alone made the wonderful BLU night spectacular as one of the most anticipated fundraising events of the social calendar-Shedd Aquarium Auxiliary Board’s BLU took place this past Saturday(7/27). Chicago’s next generation of philanthropic leaders partied with the fishes, and stingrays as they raised money for continued support of The Shedd Aquarium’s initiatives around animal care, learning, community access, conservation and sustainability.

The fundraiser co-chaired by GP Searle and Susan Begley started off with cocktails in the Caribbean Reef. During this time VIP guests had the opportunity to get up close with the stingrays. Over 30 restaurants such as Hubbard Inn, Little Market Brasserie, Sunda, Publican Quality Meats, Jellyfish provided tastings, wine by Martin Codax . The evening was complemented with music by The Salt & The Sea, Bailiff and a rocking performance under the stars by The Samples before DJ Trentino took over. An array of deserts from MORE cupcakes, Vanille Patisserie and coffee by Nespresso and more. The evening capped off with a view of the fireworks show at Navy Pier. After picking up their H2O+ filled gift bags and shedd aquarium pictures, revelers were shuttled to the afterparty at the newly re-opened Underground.

The Shedd Auquarium’s Auxiliary Board members such as Tim Huizenga, Claudine Tambuatco, Yusef Jackson were joined by friends and supporters such as Kelli Zink, Arthur Wellington, Rodrigo Perez, Alicia Rosa,Ellisa Tomicj Sophia Janga, Sharif Husseini and many more.

Shedd BLU 2013 had generous sponsors such as ArcelorMittal, Blue Moon Brewing Company, H2O Plus, Drape Kings
GATX, The Hammond Family, more cupcakes, Pioneer Tavern Group and many others.

For complete gallery of photos from Shedd BLU head over to our FACEBOOK PAGE, Like US and tag you and your friends.