Music & Mingling to benefit Senior Center

SARATOGASPRINGS It couldn’t have been a lovelier evening May 29 at the Saratoga Polo Fields for the event that helps kicks offff the Saratoga summer season — the fourth annual Music & Mingling to support the Adult and Senior Center of Saratoga.

Champagne was flflowing at the VIP reception for major sponsors, including Ron and Michele Riggi, Vincent and Patty Riggi, Fred and Dinda McNeary and Colleen Carlson, along with many other festively dressed guests.

Polo players Mario Dino, Kim Durling and Lauren Lis jumpstarted the festivities with polo demos on the lawn, while Sabine Rodgers and Patty Riggi kicked offff the Veuve Cliquot sabrage.

Event chairpersons Angie Sultan and Raymond Bryan greeted their guests with Senior Center Executive Director Lois Celeste, directing them to the evening’s festivities, including cigar and bourbon tastings, sushi and sake bar and live music by Grand Central Station.

Taunia Kipp and Steve Coons, Mary Fiorillo-Lentini, Norm and Kim Levy, Jeffff Oleska, Lisa and Tim Higgins, Kerry and Tom Selfridge, Lisa and Bob Berls, Radka Dooley and Marty Ferrillo were all on-hand to show their support for the Senior Center. Also spotted were Ken and Clover Schwartz, Tommy and Rachel Uccellini, Chris and Melissa Zieker, Val Collins and Tom and Kristie Roohan.

Fashion guru Natalie Sillery delighted guests by dressing up the crowd for the Heather-Bohm Tallman photobooth, and Lauren Cavanaugh was on-hand with her one-of-a-kind Life Rocks Jewelry.

One of the evening’s highlights was a live auction with a chance to bid on 2.5 percent share of a racehorse owned by West Point Thoroughbreds — owners of Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve. Terry and Debbie Finley generously doubled their offer when the bidding hit an all-time high between two groups, one led by Abe Sultan and Marty Ferrillo, and the other by Rich White who was buying the share as a wedding gift for his new bride-to-be, Margaret D’Andrea. West Point Thoroughbreds generously offered 2.5 percent to both parties — doubling the profifit for the Senior Center.

Organizers were delighted to report the evening raised over $75,000, almost twice the total of last year’s event.