Southampton - One of the holiday season’s most eagerly anticipated events, Parrish Presents, A Holiday Bazaar to benefit the Parrish Art Museum kicked off the shopping season in great style with a smashing Preview Cocktail Party  – and to the relief of many in these stressed economic times, offered bargains a plenty for the savvy shopper. The annual holiday shopping extravaganza is probably the only market around where one can purchase an $8,000 mink capelet by Dennis Basso or a $6 garden ornament; a $22,000 set of antique Baccarat crystal or a Hamptons’s Cloud Children’s Pillow by local artist Barbara Marino for $30 - all under the same roof.

 

The Preview Cocktail Party on Friday offered a banquet of dazzling gift items, antiques, home furnishings, lawn and garden furniture and unique treats like a customized golf cart and personally signed books by best selling authors for that special someone on your list. The sprawling sale takes over the Museum’s Main Gallery and Concert Hall, as well, as the entire Carroll Petrie Research Center for a massive display of goodies both old and new.

 

Ably chaired once again by designer John Bjørnen, the event included The Market which features new and gently used items including home furnishings, antiques, estate & costume jewelry, silver, china, elegant drapery and window treatments, pillows, tabletop décor, art, books and so much more; The Gift Bazaar showcasing extraordinary gifts and fine luxury items from a score of specialty merchants and artisans including Antique Rug Galleria, Are & Are Jewelry Beyond Art, Artikay Cashmere, David Bali Studio featuring hand printed sarongs and scarves, gorgeous landscape photography by George Dean Callas, gleaming silver from The Handmaid’s Tale, LSC Designs fine & estate jewelry, Lynch’s Garden Center offering holiday trim, sumptuous evening bags from Nula Antique Handbags, custom designed dresses, scarves and accessories from Rose Dios’ lovely shop STITCH, handsome small leather goods from Graphic Image and much, much more.

 

On the stage of the Concert Hall was The Silent Auction which gets bigger each and every year. The roster of lots featured an extraordinarily diverse group of offerings – something for every taste and pocketbook. Offerings included a rare 1910 Baccarat crystal set, designer purses from Chanel, Etro, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Segovia; Broadway show tickets; foursomes at some of the area’s top golf clubs; the impossible to get dinner reservations at Rao’s; dine around town packages for all of our favorite East End restaurants; art from Chrysalis Gallery; dozens of one of a kind experiences and even a special kiddy day trip that included passes to the Long Island Aquarium and an absolutely adorable Hampton Cloud Pillow hand made in the Hamptons and designed by local artist Barbara Marino of East Quogue, that will come in handy on the ride home. Auction Chairs Blossom Gluck and Etta Froio truly delivered an array of goodies for every budget.

 

While shopping and mingling with old and new friends, guests were also treated to delectable hors d’oeuvres by caterer Mark Fahrer and famed Chef Wayne Nish who deservedly holds the record for more New York Times stars than any chef in the country. Drawing on local sources as he always does, Nish served up a bounty of internationally inspired nibbles to fuel the hungry shoppers: hand-held Caesar salad rolls with Boquerones (tiny anchovies) wrapped in North Fork mesclun; mini baguettes filled with roasted local root vegetables; Steamed Bao with cured duck from Aquebogue’s Crescent Farms; Shrimp on potato leek cakes; spoons laden with parsnip mousseline & tomato coulis and teeny bite-sized apple turnovers using several varieties from Milk Pail. Famed East End cookbook author Silvia Lehrer who was there signing copies of her best-selling book “Savoring the Hamptons” was so wowed she followed Nish into the kitchen to see first hand how he prepared the tasty treats.

 

Thanks to generous sponsors Niche Imports, Glacier Potato Vodka and Southampton Publick House there were plenty of festive cocktails, luscious wines and lusty ales to complement the food and boost the spirits!

 

A highlight of the Preview Party is always The Book Signing featuring noted local authors. This year brought out a number of best selling writers attracting scores of book lovers. On hand were designer Jeffrey Banks & Doria de la Chappelle co-authors of “Preppy, Cultivating Ivy Style; Cherie Burns, author of “Searching for Beauty; The Life of Millicent Rogers”; Maria Cooper Janis signing her biography of her legendary movie star father, “Gary Cooper, Enduring Style”; Laurie Lambrecht and Dorothy Lichtenstein inscribing copies of the gorgeous “Roy Lichtenstein in His Studio” and our beloved Silvia Lehrer signing right up til closing her best selling “Savoring the Hampton, Discovering the Food and Wine of Long Island’s East End”.

 

Parrish Presents continues to be the quintessential East End holiday event attracting hundreds of local residents - both year round and seasonal - as well as visitors from up and down the East Coast. Each year the list of supporters swells with more and more generous patrons stepping forward to support this national treasure. Longtime sponsors who have always rallied for the cause include Grand Patrons Mildred C. Brinn and Dorothy Lichtenstein; Sponsors Prudential Douglas Elliman, David Wassong and Cynthia Clift; B & N Moving Storage, Bjørnen Design who did a marvelous job designing the concert hall and Market, Niche Import Co. & Glacier Potato Vodka and Don Sullivan’s The Southampton Publick House.