Lynn Wyatt Adds Her Magic to Nutcracker Market’s $20.4 Million Run

Even without the luxe persona of Lynn Wyatt and the devilish charm of Tony Bradfield, Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker Market would have been a glowing success. But when you add these two dynamos to the picture, you double the fun.

So it was that Wyatt and Bradfield chaired the Saks Fifth Avenue fashion show and luncheon that centered the four-day shopping fête in mid-November. And so it was that the entire market generated a whopping $20.4 million in sales, which translates into $5.4 million for ballet coffers.

By the numbers: 107,240 shoppers crossed the portals of NRG Center where 540,000 square feet were dedicated to the market amenities and the 260 merchants who joined the shop-til-you-drop extravaganza.

Applause, applause for market chair Sara Wright Parr, a longtime Houston Ballet supporter, who was joined in the successful fundraising by Wells Fargo Preview Party chairs Karen DeGeurin, Peter Remington, and Jo Lynelle and Matt Farina; Macy’s Fashion Show and Luncheon chairs Gigi Harbison and Rhonda Miller; and of course Wyatt and Tenenbaum Jewelers‘ Bradfield whose event was a sellout with more than 1,450 attending.

Since its inception in 1981, the market has raised a remarkable $74.2 million for the city’s resident ballet company. Further applause for Patsy Chapman, Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market CEO, who has stewarded the market from its infancy to the wildly popular multi-million dollar fundraiser. She was on hand at the various events as was Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch.