Click here for photos from this event.
They don’t call it the Best of the Beach for nothing. This year’s art auction to benefit the Beebe Medical Foundation went down on a hot and sticky June night, but guests like the Hon. William Swain Lee kept it cool and collected. In truth, much of the summer was hot and sticky. Might have been due to the air conditioning the foundation added to the big white tent this year. On behalf of every woman with problematic hair, I thank you. Lee might as well have been the mayor of Beebe, considering all the chit-chatting, drink-swirling and hand-shaking I saw him doing all night—and unlike Alex Pires, Lee’s not even on the campaign trail. Alex held court in thick hipster frames, jeans and a lot of pink underneath a slick blue blazer. It was tough goings trying to get to one of the adorably chic mason jars brimming with sweet deliciousness at the bar with Pires and his crew so large and in charge, gossiping and laughing. Fellow blazer bro Tim Hidell kept it just as classy in pastel pink, too, but Beebe Medical Foundation’s president and CEO Alex Sydnor absolutely had me at seersucker. Alex got on the mic—giving a shout out to pal Hidell—to open up the floor for the auction. A big fave? “September Storm” by Dagsboro artist Damon Pla. I found Lewes fangirl Vicki Keyzer absolutely entranced by it. “Can’t you just feel it?” she asked. “The breeze blowing through the grass? It just speaks to me.” You know what spoke to me? Big Fish Grill’s insane setup. The raw bar was off-the-charts gorgeous. Actually, everything under the tent was fabulously turned out, thanks to the tag team of Shelly Kennedy and Bernadette Cooper, both sporting outrageous pops of green and blue. I don’t know what was more impressive: the decor or watching Shelly race around on sky-high orange wedges to ensure all her guests were having a good time. I got to chat with Dewey defender Sally Read, looking marvelous in a floral maxi and minimal jewels, about art in Southern Delaware and the lack of attention given to black as a formal option in the summer. I watched her swirl around the room, with grace for days, but Dewey residents know full well that Sally is one tough cookie. I might have found my new hero.
