Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/699462
T he Memorial Park Conservancy convened at an apt location — the Memorial Park Running Trails Center — for its annual Green Gala, where no ties were allowed. The dress code may have been casual, but the mission was not: celebrating the initial implementations of the Park's long-range master plan, unanimously approved by the City of Houston in April 2015. Chair Anita Smith, with husband Gerald and son Jackson, tended to 400 of her closest friends, and praised honoree Jim Porter, former chairman of the MPC board and tireless champion of the park. Also honored were Mike Dishberger and Karlo Martinez, who received the Ima Hogg Service Award (whose famous namesake is the sister of Will and Mike Hogg, who purchased the land for the park in 1924 then sold it to the city at cost). Emcee Melanie Lawson presided over the evening, which raised more than $300,000 for the massive 1,500- acre green space and its renovations, the unfolding vision of famed landscape architect Thomas Woltz. City Kitchen prepared light bites while Divisi Strings AMP'D put a classical spin on modern pop music via traditional string-quartet arrangements. Going green: MPC CEO Shellye Arnold, Kay Kamas, Leslie and Jack Blanton, Anna and Hal Holliday, Lorraine and Ed Wulfe, Annie and Campbell Eifler, Terry Wayne Jones and Jay Jones, Debbie and Stephen Costello, Van Cleef & Arpels' Patrick Levrat and Shamika Johnson, Ellen Cohen, Lindsey and Bradley Beard, Pamela and John Breeding, Tammy and Steve Jenkins, and Meg and Dick Weekley. Adam Newar Sharon Owens Ellen Cohen Tammy Jenkins Steve Jenkins Amy Rozzell John Briscoe Jennifer Briscoe Annie Eifler Campbell Eifler Cyndy Garza- Roberts Martha Gonzalez David Leebron Y. Ping Sun Steve Gonzalez Patrick Levrat Shamika Johnson MATTHEW RAMIREZ FORGOES THE SUIT AND TIE. PHOTOGRAPHY JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON. GREENKEEPERS AT MEMORIAL PARK CONSERVANCY GALA Kate Stouffer Ken Huewitt Pam Huewitt Caroline Brown Honoree Jim Porter Kay Kamas Honoree Mike Dishberger Honoree Karlo Martinez Myron Blalock Tina Sabuco Shellye Arnold Louise Bland Robert Bland Jackson Smith Chair Anita Smith Gerald Smith 3729 Westheimer Rd. Houston, TX 77027 Ph. 713-621-5626 5060 West Alabama Ste. 2C The Galleria (First floor next to The Gap) Houston, TX 77056 Ph. 832-659-0839 nimasboutique.com nimaboutique@yahoo.com