May 2, 2011
Alice’s Wonderland Garden Party to benefit Evergreen Museum
Part of the invitation was inspired by the 1922 stencil patterning for Evergreen’s North Wing theater lobby, which was designed by Leon Bakst.
The Evergreen Museum & Library Advisory Council’s inaugural Alice’s Wonderland Garden Party will welcome spring on Thursday, May 12, in the formal gardens of Johns Hopkins’ Evergreen Museum & Library.
More than 200 guests are expected to travel down the rabbit hole from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at this new festive fundraiser for Evergreen Museum & Library, the former Gilded Age estate of legendary Baltimore collectors and philanthropists John Work Garrett and his inimitable wife, Alice Warder Garrett. Funds raised through the event will support the museum’s ongoing historic preservation efforts.
The evening includes Wonderland-themed hors d’oeuvres and an oyster bar, an open bar with cocktails and wine, croquet, live music and a silent auction, with online bidding that’s now open.
Inside the mansion, guests will have the opportunity to visit the first-floor period rooms and exhibitions, including an exclusive first look at The American Throne: Royal Seating for a Democratic Venue. This special exhibition features a selection of chairs from the past 200 years designed or commissioned for American clientele that illuminate the influence and cross-fertilization of monarchial and democratic ideals on chair design. The exhibition goes on public display May 22 and runs through Sept. 25.
Spring garden-party attire—with a fabulous hat for the Mad Hatter’s Hat Contest—is encouraged. Prizes will be awarded for the best ladies’ and gentlemen’s hats in five categories: vintage or traditional, spring bounty (live flowers), most creative, show stopper and best ensemble.
Tickets are available by phone at 410-516-0341 or online at www.brownpapertickets
.com/event/157568. Standard tickets are $100 and must be purchased before 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 11 ($125 after that time or at the door), Glad Hatter Patron tickets are $250, and King and Queen of Hearts Benefactor tickets are $1,000; all but $45 of each is tax-deductible. Tickets are $45 for full-time JHU students with ID and can be purchased by phone or at the door.
Silent auction items—ranging from antiques and jewelry to vacation getaways, unique home decor and more—are available for online bidding until Wednesday, May 11, through the museum’s website, museums.jhu.edu.
Alice’s Wonderland Garden Party is made possible in part through the generosity of B. Creative Group, Calvert Wholesale Florists, the Cliff Dwellers Garden Club, Loane Brothers, Style magazine, Watson Caterers, The Wine Source, Woodberry Graphics and WYPR 88.1 FM.