On Saturday, June 28, the Stonington Historical Society will host its 10th annual dinner dance from 6 p.m. to midnight. While the event has been successful in the past, generally attracting upwards of 300 people, this year’s event co-chair Rebecca Lynch has promised the event will be like no other before it.
“It’s going to be at the Nathaniel Palmer House, which is the first time it’s ever been held there,” Lynch explained. “We really wanted to change the event and really shake it up so everything is going to be very, very different. It was definitely time for a big change.” Previously, the event was held at the Old Lighthouse Museum.
The event will have a new theme—gardening and landscaping—and a new 10-piece band, Souled Out, will provide the music. A Thyme To Cook will prepare the new menu, and several items will be auctioned off.
Reflecting this year’s garden theme, silent and live auctions will be held during the course of the evening and will feature design, plantings, and landscape services and party and entertainment packages. Among the most notable items up for auction are a potting shed designed by architect Robert Mercer and built by Robert Woods; a weekend in Manhattan with Broadway tickets and fully paid restaurant reservations; a week in a Nantucket cottage; and a fully underwritten cocktail party for 40 at Merry Meeting Farm.
Lynch said the event has a 350-person capacity. She and her co-chair, Beth Olmstead, are hoping for at least 300 to attend.
“The focus is all about gardens and landscaping,” Lynch said, “and we have a really huge following of community groups coming in. We have four well-known nurseries that are setting up vignettes under the tent. The entire evening is going to be like walking through the Chelsea Flower Show. There will be mini gardens and vignettes, decorated scenes, furniture, fountains, trees, shrubs, plants, urns—it’s really going to be gorgeous and everything will be for sale in a silent auction format.”
The evening will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from 6 to 7:30 p.m., while guests stroll the grounds and bid on the silent auction items. The evening will continue with dinner and dancing, followed by the live auction.
Proceeds from the event will go to the new Captain Nathaniel Palmer Grounds and Gardens Fund, which was created to bring the proper landscaping and gardening to the garden-bereft grounds.
“The Palmer House is this absolutely beautiful Victorian house that sits up on a hill that has virtually no landscaping or planting of any sort,” Lynch explained. “And the reason why I really became interested in this and came on board and to help out with this event was that I felt that the Palmer House just needed help. If it’s surrounded by beautiful plantings and trees and shrubs, then more people will come and either go through it and tour or rent it out for parties and weddings and events. When you come to the Palmer House it will be the Palmer House and gardens.”
A master plan for all grounds work will be presented by famed historical landscaper Rudy Favretti, who researched the original plans the Palmer family used to create their Victorian garden. The proposed plan is slated to be completed over a five-year period.
For more information or to reserve tickets, call 860-535-8445. Tickets are $150 per person.