A Wild Night

By Richard Mineards   |   May 16, 2019
Joanne Funari, Carlos Plascencia, and Rhonda Henderson at the Santa Barbara Zoo (photo by Priscilla)

It was clearly a mane event when Santa Barbara Zoo hosted its fifth annual Roar & Pour, a sell-out attracting 1,500 oenophiles and gourmands, raising around $100,000 for the popular menagerie.

Some 300 of the party animals splashed out for VIP tickets, allowing them early entrance to the fun fête, avoiding the crowds and giving them access to reserve wines provided by 48 vendors from Santa Maria, Los Olivos, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara, accompanied by creative comestibles from Rincon Catering.

A roaring success to be sure…

Eve Mitchell and Sean Checketts pass out their Hippy Pop gourmet vegan popcorn to Paul Carlson and Linda Vasquez (photo by Priscilla)
Goleta Red Distilling Company’s Michael Craig, Shira and Chris Minerd, and Laura Craig (photo by Priscilla)
Dan Crotty and Roy Coleman with BABE representatives Kristina Morrison and Sherri Daneshvari flanking Joe Lambert (photo by Priscilla)

Going to the Chapel 

TV talk show titan Oprah Winfrey shut down the Saks department store in Beverly Hills to shop for a wedding dress.

Before you jump to conclusions that our rarefied enclave’s most famous resident is getting hitched to her longtime beau Stedman Graham, the bridal gown was for one of her students at her South African girls leadership academy outside Johannesburg, which opened in 2007.

Oprah, 65, took the budding bride-to-be and two other students, graduates from the first class, to dinner at Spago, Wolfgang Puck‘s eatery just a tiara’s toss away, before heading up to the Wilshire Boulevard emporium for the private shopping spree.

In an Instagram post Oprah said she’s known the girls since they were 12 or 13 attending her school and was looking for the perfect dress, with the future bride seen holding a $10,000 gown from Berta.

 

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