Society

EQUEST 40TH ANNIVERSARY GALA DRAWS ROYAL CAMEO

Katie Layton and Louise Griffeth Lisa Laughlin and Katherine Wyker

Sabrina Williams and James Taylor Luke and Rachel Branyan Lauren Davis and Brandi Chalmers

Arthur Murray Dancers

Margaret and Ryan Wolf Pat McLaughlin with Annie and Teal Griffeth Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne

(PHOTOS: THOMAS GARZA)

The sold-out Equest 40th Anniversary Gala: Celebrating 40 Years of Horse Power brought 575 people out to the new Al Hill, Jr. Arena at Texas Horse Park for dining, dancing, and horses.

Guests admired the therapy horses groomed in stylish summer cuts and braids for the occasion and posed with the Equest Mini Ambassadors, two miniature horses under 36 inches tall.

The event, chaired by Lisa and Kendall Laughlin and Katherine and Austin Wyker, raised more than $600,000 to support the agency’s work to heal children and adults with diverse needs through equine-assisted activities and therapies.

Appearing via video, Princess Anne, an Olympian equestrian and longtime advocate of equine therapies who had visited Equest in 2000, sent her warmest wishes from Buckingham Palace.

– Staff report

Playhouses Get Real Home Durability

By Rachel Snyder

rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com

Les Owens of LRO Residential has lent his building expertise to Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses at NorthPark for 12 years and is at it again this year.

LRO Residential builds homes in the Park Cities, Preston Hollow, Bluffview, and Devonshire.

Over the years, Owens has built a range of playhouses – from whimsical cottages to a fire station to a farmhouse with a copper silo. This year’s is a high-ceilinged cottage with a wooden roof.

“We frame the walls, and the roof, the rafters – everything just like you would a house,” Owens said. “So, it’s going to stand up over the test of time for sure. The front door, it’s ... real wood, just like a mini wood front door would be, real windows provided by Anderson, wood floors just like we put in the house, sheetrock.”

Parade of Playhouses is the signature fundraising event for Dallas CASA, a nonprofit that advocates for abused and neglected children.

“Over the years, I’d seen it go into the mall,” Owens said of the event. “I always thought it was kind of neat, and when we had our first child ... we signed up. We were able to participate in it and thought as long as we have kids, it’d be a good thing to do every year. (It’s an) easy way to give back that aligns with what we do.”

Les Owens of LRO Residential works on his playhouse for Dallas CASA’s 26th annual Parade of Playhouses coming to NorthPark

Center July 9 - 25. (PHOTO: RACHEL SNYDER)

Fabulous flowers for life ‘s most precious moments!

Wedding Days, Birthdays, Any Days

SEATED: Ley Waggoner, Linda Tunnell, and Jan Waggoner. STANDING: Stan Wright, Charlotte Hudgin, and Pam Carvey. (Courtesy Rotary Club of Park Cities) Chris and Laura Thomason with Paige and Marc Sachs. (George Fiala / Folds of Honor)

The Eye sculpture and two all-electric Porsche Taycans made for an irresistible photo spot. (Photo: Michael Ainsworth) Audrey, Dan, Whitney, and Lucy Hopkin. (Photo: Rob Wythe/Wythe Portrait Studio)

Carol Stabler, Gail Plummer, Barbara Sypult, and Kay Hammond. (Photo: Wythe Portrait Studios)

Celeste Gaierea of Texas Ballet Theatre. (Photo: Courtesy Business Council for the Arts)

Picnicking at Bonton

A pandemic year couldn’t stop the Rotary Club of Park Cities from raising $150,000+ for the planned Bonton Clinic in south Dallas.

Club members celebrated May 28 with a picnic lunch at Bonton Farms, a nonprofit which uses its two urban farms, a market, a cafe, and coffee house to provide food, employment, and economic development for the Bonton community.

Folds of Honor party

Monica and Joe Eastin opened their home May 27 for the 2021 North Texas Folds of Honor Gala kickoff party, an evening of patriotism fueled by personal testimonials, camaraderie, and passion, along with a live performance by country artist Stoney LaRue.

Laura and Chris Thomason and Paige and Marc Sachs received World War II handmade bomber jackets for their work supporting Folds of Honor’s mission: providing educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service-members.

Eye on Porsche

Two all-electric Porsche Taycans – a Chalk Turbo S and a Neptune Blue 4S – flanked downtown Dallas’ iconic Eye sculpture during a Porsche Dallas launch party sponsored by the Joule Hotel.

Social media lit up with photos on May 27 of guests posing beside and inside the Taycans (rhymes with “icons”). Swag bags included a wireless phone charger and the latest issue of D Magazine. in person and virtually for a Beach Boys concert on the lawn at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Annette Strauss Artist Square.

All proceeds benefit the efforts of the early childhood education and Parent Opportunity Center to “rewire brains, repair hearts, and restore the families of homeless children in Dallas.”

Alzheimer’s myths

Call it a sign of the times: This year’s AWARE Affair Celebrate The Moments Alzheimer’s Myths Unveiled fundraiser occurred indoors, outdoors, and online with food, music, comedy, and other programming at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

The 2020 Inaugural Founders Award went to Barbara Sypult and the 2021 Founder’s Award to Kay Hammond. Emcee Scott Murray tackled Alzheimer’s Myths, noting that a diagnosis is nothing to be ashamed of and does not invalidate a patient’s importance, value, or lifetime accomplishments.

Art of biodiversity?

The 2021 Business Council for the Arts Leadership Arts Institute Dallas class hosted The Art of Discovery, a celebration fundraising event and art auction on April 24 at The Texas Discovery Gardens (TDG), a champion of biodiversity in North Texas.

The 2021 LAI Dallas class raised more than $33,000 to provide critically needed repairs to TDG greenhouses that preserve endangered species of plants unique to North Texas. Local galleries and artists earned $16,000-plus in proceeds from the auction.