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Food and Fun Make Up for Dearth of Easter Hats

April 12, 2009 — While the bonnets were not as bountiful as in years past, fun was the word of the day Easter Sunday during the third annual Humane Society Easter Bonnet Parade at Oceana Restaurant at Villa Olga.
It was a picture-perfect day, with a crisp blue sky, bright sun and folks in their Easter best hopping from table to table to chat with friends, compare outfits and spread holiday bonhomie. It's one of those gatherings where fashion is featured, but formality is not.
As folks gobbled up Salade Niscoise, spring lamb, prawns in pesto, chocolate tarts and fine champagne, chitchat reigned.
"I wonder what her name is," whispered one guest, "I just can't remember."
Sandal maker Zora Galvin laughed.
"I have no problem," she said. "I always just say, 'I remember your feet.'"
Artist Carol Sirhakis remembered the old days at Blackbeard's Hotel when the island celebrated the day even less formally.
"Don't you remember David Floriphinalia and his feathers — huge, just huge — hanging everywhere?"
"Yeah," said another guest. "And what about Frenchtown's Paulie Greaux? You never knew what he was going to come up with. Last time was a blowup seaplane."
Those days may have faded, but that spirit was still strong Sunday. In fact, there was barely a bonnet parade this year, a fact the 100 or so guests took in stride. Galvin won a giant fuzzy yellow duck in the raffle, on which she carefully placed her own flowered hat.
Joe Aubain, Humane Society board president, declared the afternoon a success.
"I'm so grateful everybody came, and everybody's having so much fun," he said. "The event is really not a fundraiser; it's more for public awareness."
The society needs $500,000 more to finally open the doors on the Humane Care Campus across from Cost-You-Less on the Weymouth Ryhmer Highway, Aubain said. Building a shelter for homeless animals in the Caribbean is expensive, he said — about $350 per square foot. It's more costly than a commercial building because of keeping animals of different species clean, safe and free of disease.
Ground for the new campus, named for Aubain, was broken in June 2006. (See "Humane Society Groundbreaking Marked By Jubilation.") But generating the funds remains an ongoing problem, especially with the recent national financial crunch.
Now, for the hats. Nine-year-old Luisa Fredey took glamor honors with a gorgeous creation complete with a baby bird's nest and flowing bougainvillea. The baby's contest was easily won by 15-month-old Cheyenne Wheatley in a tiny flowered straw bonnet designed by her mom, Katrina Wheatley.
Winners who bought a raffle ticket in the form of a decorated egg took home a variety of prizes: a two-night stay at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel, a British Virgin islands trip for two from Day Marine Services, a trip for two on the Doubloon or Dancing Dolphin catamaran to Buck Island, three months bronze expanded service from Innovative Cable TV, a Buck Island trip by the St. Thomas Diving Club, four rounds of 18 holes of golf at Mahogany Run, a massage by Terry Stevens and at least one large stuffed ducky.
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