Parks fans kicked up their heels and kicked off the Saint Paul Parks Endowment Fund!
More than 130 friends got out their sparkles, spats and spangles to launch the Saint Paul Parks Endowment by matching a $50,000 challenge grant from Richard and Nancy Nicholson and Todd and Martha Nicholson. Starting with “Fitzgerald” gin cocktails in the historic bar at The Commodore, they went on to enjoy music by the Mississippi Hot Club, a dynamic live auction and poignant testimonials about the impact of our parks and recreation system from Gay Say Moo and Shannon Butler.
Actors Amanda Mai and Antoni brought F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald to life, distributing copies of an updated “St. Paul Daily Dirge” (the satirical newspaper created by the Fitzgeralds in 1922). One of the fun news articles that drew attention was the “scandalous” story of one of the event committee members’ ancestor who was the last holdout in selling land to the City to complete Mississippi River Boulevard and the riverfront park.
“Like the old Chinese proverb about the planting trees, the best time to start an endowment was 50 years ago,” says Conservancy director Michael-jon Pease. “The second best time to start one is today and thanks to these great friends of parks, we have.”
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