NYRP Spring Picnic NYRP’s annual Spring Picnic has quickly become a highly anticipated New York City tradition – celebrating the season with a salute to all things spring. So get out your gingham, roll up your sleeves and dig into a barbeque feast with all the fixins’. No one can combine a pig roast with a champagne toast like the divine Miss Bette Midler – making NYRP’s Spring Picnic the fun and fab place to be and be seen every May under the stars at one of the gorgeous New York City green spaces that NYRP has helped restore. Past picnics have been held in Fort Washington Park, NYRP's Swindler Cove Park, Fort Tryon Park and Tompkins Square Park – serving up great grub and an eclectic array of guests, including America Ferrera, Iman, Tony Bennett, Glenn Close, Katie Couric, Tim Gunn, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, John Lithgow and Sarah Jessica Parker – to name a few! To help make sure that the winter blues are bid farewell, each year NYRP’s own resident force of nature, Bette, leads everyone in a raucous sing-a-long to the delight of many and the dread of some. All in good fun as attendees enjoy cocktails, dinner, entertainment and dancing at one of New York City’s most venerable vernal events! | | NYRP Hulaween Bette Midler’s Hulaween 2009 brought even more glam and allure to this annual ghoulish gala that raises important funds for New York Restoration Project (NYRP). During the evening, Midler presented Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg with her “Wind Beneath My Wings” award for the Mayor’s unwavering support and leadership in cleaning and greening New York City. Always a star-studded event, Hulaween 2009 did not disappoint, with such celebrity guests as actress Whoopi Goldberg, Judy Gold (who served as the evening’s master of ceremonies), Katie Couric, Martha Stewart and John McEnroe. Armed with Gold at her side, the Divine Miss M took to the floor for NYRP’s annual live tree auction, which raised more than $300,000 to support NYRP’s tree-planting efforts citywide.
Fashion designer Michael Kors “creeped” through the crowd during the evening’s cocktail reception, searching for costume contest winners. This year’s first prize was awarded to Todd DeGarmo and his STUDIOS architecture table – who transformed themselves into cocktails and spirits. Hulaween continued to rock with a special performance by the world’s first “super group,” Crosby, Stills & Nash. And the festivities didn’t stop there! NYRP’s after party, hosted by The Buds – NYRP’s Junior Committee – kept guests dancing into the night, with NYRP’s very-own Forestry Manager David Moore spinning the hottest mixes.
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