Houston’s Most Fashionable Women Turn Hats in the Park Into Another Stunner — And Hermann Park Is the Big Winner
Boosting One of the Bayou City's Truly Special Spaces
BY Shelby Hodge //
Varda Fields, Cheryl Byington, Karen Payne at the Hermann Park Conservancy 'Hats in the Park' luncheon (Photo by Jenny Antill)
Once again, Mother Nature smiled on supporters of Hermann Park Conservancy as the weather for Houston’s 18th annual Hats in the Park luncheon was nothing less than splendid. Serendipitously, “Nature Is a Healer” served as the theme of this year’s affair and UTHealth Houston was honoree. The temps were pleasant, the breezes gentle and flowers bloomed.
“Today’s theme feels especially relevant to us at UTHealth Houston,” Kevin Foyle, the hospital’s senior vice president of development and alumni engagement, told the gathering of 450. “Our mission is to advance health through education, research and patient care. But we know that health is influenced by so much more than what happens inside a clinic or in a hospital.
“It’s also shaped by the spaces where people can step away, recharge and connect. And Hermann Park is truly the perfect example of that.”
As is tradition, the loyal flock of supporters stepped out in sartorial opulence — at least in their selection of chapeaux. There were fascinators and broad brims, fedoras and panamas each decorated to the hilt with feathers, faux flowers and real, spiraling structures and massive blossoms.
Some were quite simple while others bordered on the outrageous. Thus, Hats in the Park regularly ranks as the most fashionably beguiling of the Houston spring social season.
Taking the lead were luncheon chairs Demetra Jones, Tina Arias Peterman and Nicola Fuentes Toubia each making her own headpiece statement while Conservancy board chair Roslyn Bazzelle Mitchell, a PaperCity Philanthropy in Fashion Houston Best Dressed Hall of Fame honoree, made a stunning presence in her navy frock and soaring navy hat.
The Allen
All of this fashionable glory in the name of raising funds for the maintenance and betterment of Hermann Park.
“For more than a century, Hermann Park has been a place of restoration and renewal, and it has been woven into the daily lives of people who live and work and receive care across Houston, but especially here in the Texas Medical Center,” Hermann Park Conservancy president & CEO Cara Lambright noted as she thanked the throng for its support. “A healthy city is not just care delivered, though, within walls. It is also delivered through green space that supports wellbeing, something UTHealth Houston has long recognized.”
PC Seen: City Council members Sallie Alcorn and Abbie Kamin, Houston Parks and Recreation director Kenneth Allen, Kristy Bradshaw, Paula DesRoches, Allison Thacker, Leigh Smith, Kathryn Boeker, Julie Longoria Chen, Susie and Sanford Criner, Jay Baker, Franci Neely, Krystal Thompson, Stacy Johnson, Sandy Godfrey, Kelley Lubanko, Devorah Kreiger, Amanda Hughes Pickering, and Kathryn Boeker.
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