More than 100 people — many in suits, dresses and fashionable hats — spent the evening last Friday enjoying food and wine in the Lorenzo formal gardens, touring the mansion and supporting the Friends of Lorenzo for the group’s annual Garden Gala fundraiser.
“I’m really pleased with the turnout despite a week of terrible weather. It’s such a wonderful evening to kick-off the summer season in Cazenovia and at Lorenzo,” said FOL President Casey Frazee. “It’s a beautiful night to mingle with lots of Lorenzo regulars and great supporters.”
The non-profit group, which is dedicated to preserving the Lorenzo mansion and grounds, raised nearly $5,000 through attendance and raffle ticket sales. That money will be used to support the Friends’ mission to supplement on-going programs, interpret the site to the public, underwrite restoration projects and acquire objects for the mansion. The FOL also supports Lorenzo research and publication projects and sponsors social, historical and cultural programs at the mansion.
“The Friends of Lorenzo started this [garden gala] tradition in about 2005 and every year it gets better,” said Lorenzo Site Director Barbara Bartlett. “This is such a great way to show off all the work in the garden over the past 30 years.”
The Lorenzo formal gardens were created in 1856 by Ledyard Lincklaen and enhanced in 1914 by Helen Lincklaen Fairchild. In 1983, the Friends of Lorenzo hired an experienced gardener who referenced the original 1914 design for plant varieties and placement. Today the formal garden — based on a central path with a sundial as the focal point — includes dozens of flower varieties, including Irises, Peonies, Hollyhocks, Foxgloves and barberries.
In addition the social and horticultural enjoyment, gala attendees also got to tour the Lorenzo mansion and view the newly-installed 2013 exhibit, “From Bustle to Bodice: Layers of Elegance at Lorenzo.” The exhibit features full-length replicas of garments worn by Lorenzo owner Helen Clarissa Lincklaen, her mother Ann Forman Seymour and her daughter Helen Lincklaen Fairchild displayed on mannequins in various rooms throughout the mansion. Additionally, reproductions of servants’ attire, undergarments and family children’s costumes, as well as accessories from the historic collections at Lorenzo, are included.
Lorenzo State Historic Site, located at 17 Rippleton Road, is open for mansion tours 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. The grounds are open year-round from dawn to dusk, including the formal garden and Dark Aisle arboretum.
The next event at Lorenzo will be “Shakespeare on the Lawn,” a free, 60-minute outdoor adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic thriller Macbeth on the front lawn of the mansion. Six performers from Red House Arts Center play all the roles and blend inventive physicality, evocative design and original text to recreate this tale of greed and ambition. The event is at 7 p.m. Friday, June 21. Bring a picnic basket and lawn chairs.
For more information on Lorenzo and the Friends of Lorenzo, visit lorenzony.org or call 655-3200.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
