June 28, 2016
Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens:
Our Summer Solstice Sunset Soirée did what it has always done: it scared us with mid-afternoon rain, then cleared for a most magnificent evening, including a brilliant sunset. We had a full house to honor Ann Carmel, the Conservancy's Chair and Samuel Untermyer's great-granddaughter.
Given that many people travel some distance to join us, we try to make our gala especially entertaining. Timothy Tilghman and his crew delivered a picture-perfect garden, with flowers galore.
Dear Friends of Untermyer Gardens:
Our Summer Solstice Sunset Soirée did what it has always done: it scared us with mid-afternoon rain, then cleared for a most magnificent evening, including a brilliant sunset. We had a full house to honor Ann Carmel, the Conservancy's Chair and Samuel Untermyer's great-granddaughter.
Given that many people travel some distance to join us, we try to make our gala especially entertaining. Timothy Tilghman and his crew delivered a picture-perfect garden, with flowers galore.
The highlight of the evening is the assembly at the amphitheater. Ann arrived with her seven grandchildren in a kazoo band formation, piping the march from The Bridge on the River Kwai. She then told us about the life of Samuel Untermyer, a man of many talents with great foresight.
Several more speeches were delivered, and we saluted the important support of the Frederick S. Upton Foundation and our special guest, Kate Upton.
After a brief but effective auction, the grandchildren performed a skit around the notion of hard times causing me to fire all the gardeners.
Our good friend Marian Heiskell, now 97, became the new Head Gardener, wearing Timothy's hat. Look at her boots!
The seven low-cost replacement gardeners (Samuel Untermyer's great-great-great- grandchildren) began working to much applause. Each was given a dollar bill and exited the stage to the Seven Dwarfs' "Heigh-Ho."
If you'd like to see more photos of the evening, take a look at our gallery. Many thanks to photographers Toby McAfee and Ralph Gabriner. And come see what we are up to -- a lot!
Kind regards,
Stephen F. Byrns
President, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy
P.S. As this goes to press, we learned of the death of the New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham at age 87. He loved Untermyer Gardens and came here many times. Our last communication with him, several weeks ago, spoke of his intention to come to our gala, but it was not to be.
Kind regards,
Stephen F. Byrns
President, Untermyer Gardens Conservancy
P.S. As this goes to press, we learned of the death of the New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham at age 87. He loved Untermyer Gardens and came here many times. Our last communication with him, several weeks ago, spoke of his intention to come to our gala, but it was not to be.
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