Nearly 150 performing-arts supporters gathered in an elegant ballroom for a special event honoring members of the Helen K. Persson Society. The society boasts 135 members whose endowments support the long-term future of the popular stage.  ABOVE: (l-r) Ilene Arons, Marilyn Berman, Sherry and Tom Barrat, Debra Elmore, Eileen Ludwig Greenland, Carolyn Metskas, John Mike, Joan Gerson, Christine and John Howard, Sandra Thompson and Joan Gordon. Photo provided by Corby Kaye’s Studio Palm Beach

More than 250 guests donned their brightest fashions to celebrate the arrival of spring and herald the work being done to help foster children at The Leighan and David Rinker Campus, a residence operated by Place of Hope. Activities included a silent auction, musical performances and the presentation of the 2016 Angel of Hope award to Deborah Gaslow, a former foster child. ABOVE: (l-r) Bonnie Wintz Boroian, Andrea Reid, Eileen Needleman, Karen Baker, Laura Frione and Bonnie Judson.

ABOVE: Saily Perkins and Kathleen Clarkson. BELOW: (l-r) Kimberly Boldt Cartwright, Pamela Stolle, Jeannine Morris, Ellen Hoffman and Nicola Littenberg. 

Photos provided

A quarter-million dollars was raised for arts education in the area during the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County’s glittering gala. The evening began with cocktails followed by dinner and an awards program directed and produced by Andrew Kato, of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, with the theme Everything Old Is New Again. PHOTO: Award recipient for Outstanding Cultural Leader Irvin Lippman, of the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and Roberta Kjelgaard. Photo provided by Jacek Photo

The Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden welcomed 260 supporters to its annual affair, the hosts of which were Dr. Richard and Rita Lazzara. The sunny, sold-out event raised $150,000 for the installation of the ‘Windows on the Floating World’ exhibition and its see-through walkways and aquatic plants, enabling visitors to connect with the tropical wetlands around them. ABOVE: Elaine Zimmerman and Hildegard Jones. Photo provided by Michiko Kurisu

Guests clad in elegantly elaborate hats and dashing Derby digs attended the school’s second such gala, themed Raising Champions and highlighted by the best two minutes in sports. The affair included traditional Southern fare, mint juleps, Dixieland music and live and silent auctions. It raised $185,000 to support student-leadership programs. LEFT: (l-r) Karin Luter, Bridget Koch and Melissa Wight. Photo provided by Chrissy Henry

A candlelight ceremony took place to induct executive-level members into the Boca Raton Woman’s Club for 2016-17. The following officers have agreed to serve: Pam Capy, president; Dianne Schellig, vice president of membership; Sue Snowden, vice president of programming; Charlotte Robinson, corresponding secretary; Carole Stankee, recording secretary; Annette Phelps, treasurer; and Helen Babione, honorary adviser. ABOVE: (l-r) Schellig, Capy, Babione and Phelps.
Photo provided by Barbara McCormick

The Arc of Palm Beach County recognized the creativity, energy and resources of its community volunteers, corporate partners and staff members at the eighth annual awards ceremony. More than 100 honorees and their guests enjoyed a reception, raffle and live music. Arc Angels are employees who have demonstrated exemplary dedication to the organization. ABOVE: (l-r) Holly Stewart, Debra Ruedisili, Robert Salmore, Tara Evans, Alane Foster, Peter Robbins, President and CEO Kimberly McCarten and Russell Greene. Photo provided

The Lake Worth High School Alumni Foundation had a hilarious, head-accessory-themed fundraiser to benefit academic and vocational scholarships for deserving graduates. Prizes were given in the categories of funniest, most original, patriotic and prettiest. Guests participated in a silent auction and raffles and door prizes, with items donated from the community. ABOVE: (l-r) In front are Helen Gilmore, Virginia Thomas and Jenni Chastain; in back are Doris Dorsey, Roberta Stephens, Karen Mostler, Carol Webster, Judy Faris and Polly McFadden. Photo provided

Milagro Center, an arts and education nonprofit, rolled out its annual performance fundraiser to a crowd of more than 200. The evening included cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and opportunities to purchase student-created artwork and bid in a silent auction. The highlight was entertainment by the center’s children. ABOVE: Barbara Stark, president and CEO of Milagro Center, and sponsor Mary Ann Knaus. Photo provided

For the second year, philanthropists, supporters and volunteers gathered for the Susan G. Komen South Florida affair that raised more than $45,000, with all proceeds going to breast-cancer education, research and screening. Keynote speaker Dr. Claudia Mason, of Cleveland Clinic Florida, highlighted the importance of continued awareness campaigns and further funding for a cure. ABOVE: (l-r) Tammy Moyer, Dayve Gabbard and Chris Handler. Photo provided

The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s Men’s Division welcomed more than 50 participants to a night of camaraderie and the passing of the torch. They enjoyed an open bar and hors d’oeuvres as federation President and CEO Matt Levin delivered well wishes to outgoing Men’s Division Co-Chairmen Stuart Ganslaw, Gary Rubin and Peter Wohlgemuth. Then it was time to applaud the incoming chairmen – Ken Lebersfeld, Chuck Lichtman and Ira Holz. ABOVE: (l-r) Lebersfeld, Wohlgemuth, Ganslaw, Holz and Lichtman.
Photo provided by Jeffrey Tholl Photography

Adolphus ‘Dolph’ Orthwein and Leverett Miller play a match on the former polo fields near today’s Gulfstream Golf Club.
Photo courtesy of Orthwein family

By Thom Smith

Polo. Money. Land. Money. Florida. Money. No polo.
Few relationships are more beautiful than man and horse racing as one across a manicured pasture in pursuit of that little white ball. Polo is a sport played mostly by rich men (and a few women), some of whom die on the field. Others lose their shirts.
    Perhaps envy adds to the beauty: Games with horses are almost as costly as games involving horsepower. Schoolteachers and truck drivers could only dream — $15,000 for a so-so horse (and one is not enough); well over $1,000 a month for the stable; mallets $500. Figure $50,000 a year just for basic essentials.
    But the real money is in the land, and its value ultimately seduces the men who own the fields. It’s a story as old as Florida, first in Jacksonville early in the 20th century, then Orlando, Miami Beach, Gulf Stream, Boca Raton and now Lake Worth.
    The Phipps family, synonymous with steel, real estate and eventually horses, owned a third of Palm Beach, 28 miles of oceanfront between Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and prime bayfront land in Miami. As early as 1922, the Phippses began buying land along newly opened A1A just north of Delray Beach in the town of Gulf Stream.
The scrub was cleared and Addison Mizner dreamed up a private club. Donald Ross designed the golf course. Three polo fields stretched along the Intracoastal. A tropical utopia for northern friends and business associates, it was named the Gulfstream Club.
    The world’s wealthiest men played there. Socialites, celebrities such as Cary Grant and Ava Gardner and hoi polloi cruised or motored from Palm Beach to watch the Sunday matches. Even as the nation recovered from the Depression and the war approached from East and West, a team from Gulfstream anchored by Ben and Michael Phipps — such upstarts! — stunned the polo world by winning the 1941 U.S. Open.
    Polo took a hiatus during the war as the club was converted to a military installation and the stables housed mounts for Coast Guard sentries on beach patrol.
    The glamour and the game returned in 1946, but property values were skyrocketing. Down in Boca Raton in 1955, developer Arthur Vining Davis, as in Arvida, opened Royal Palm Polo just south of the Boca Raton Resort & Club, but those fields soon gave way to Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, and Royal Palm Polo moved to Glades Road just west of Military Trail.
    The Phippses decided to sell the polo property, so the Gulfstream players and team patrons looked instead to wide open spaces west of Lake Worth.
    The new Gulfstream Polo opened in 1965 on 100 acres just beyond the turnpike. Private estates and stables filled another 450 acres on the periphery. Fewer professionals filled rosters. A few wealthy low- and medium-goal amateurs would fly in for weekend matches, but polo could be played on a budget and Gulfstream was more community than exclusive club.  
    The social whirl engulfed Royal Palm in Boca and Palm Beach Polo in Wellington. High-goal action and couture parties attracted such celebrities as Sylvester Stallone and Wilt Chamberlain (picture him on a horse) and royalty, such as Charles and Diana. Gulfstream cruised in its own little polo universe. Instead of champagne and caviar, Gulfstream players and grooms joined families at the clubhouse for burgers and beer.
    But every chukker seemed to attract another speculator.
    What’ll it take? What’ll it take to buy the largest undeveloped acreage between Boca and Jupiter? In 2006 Westbrooke Homes offered $66.5 million for 221 acres. But the market went flat, Westbrooke backed out and the 39 shareholders kept playing.
Still, it was only a matter of time. Reports circulated last fall that Pulte Homes was planning to build nearly 1,000 homes and townhomes on 225 acres. Cost: $49 million.
    The deal closed a month ago and a grand opening is expected next spring.
    The plus: If prices can hold in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, many potential buyers who have been squeezed out of the market will be able to afford homes. The minuses: The Browardization of western Palm Beach County and less polo.
    Palm Beach County is home to more than 6,000 horses. In addition to polo, they are involved in trotting, thoroughbred racing, show jumping, dressage, barrel racing and recreational riding.
    After 93 years, the club made its last stand April 15 with the championship match in the South Florida 4-Goal League, between Rancho Alegre and aptly named Custer Capital. Alegre three-goaler Omar Cepeda earned MVP honors, but Custer prevailed, 6-5. Ash, Cepeda’s mount in the second chukker, was named best playing pony. But the awards ceremony was not without melancholy.  
    As George DuPont, executive director of the nearby Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, said, “It was user-friendly. Nobody yelling ‘Don’t go here,’ ‘You can’t sit there.’ It was a fun place to be. The beauty of it was, the stables were right there. All you had to do was walk your horse to the field.
    “Without Gulfstream, teams will have to load those horses in trailers and drive to a field miles away. We’ll need some time to figure out what the overall effect will be.”
    But as the deal maker for the club owners, Brad Scherer, a 2-goal player, said, “This sale was the crown jewel.”
                                ***
    The Delray restaurant scene continues to attract attention. Sundy House remains on the OpenTable website’s “100 Best Brunch Restaurants in America” list, one of only three in Florida. More than 5 million diners submitted reviews for more than 20,000 U.S. restaurants, looking for, among other offerings, “unforgettable French toast and spicy bloody marys.”
    Also returning to the list is the Oxford Exchange in Tampa (under $30) while a new addition is the Yardbird Southern Table & Bar in Miami Beach ($31-$50). Dropped from the list, however, was the Circle Room at The Breakers in Palm Beach.
    A bit more informal is FloridaBeachBar.com’s ranking of top beach bars. The site’s criterion: proximity to the state’s 852 miles of beaches. Boston’s on the Beach is separated from the beach by A1A. But it does have its own “Sandbar” — no carpet, no tile, no floor, just sand — plus all the atmosphere necessary to make the website’s top 10 list for the second year.
    The top 10 is a popularity contest: The bars work hard to get out the vote. St. Pete barflies apparently vote early and often. The gulfside city claims 17 beach bars, the most in Florida, with Jimmy B’s, Bongos and  Harry’s ranking Nos. 1, 2 and 4. Even though Key West and Fort Myers have 16 bars each, none made the top 10.
    However, the website also has a program that rates the beach bars from 1 to 5 based on four criteria: proximity to the beach, food and drinks, live entertainment and beach bar factors such as parking, boat access, tiki huts, staff, friendly patrons and sunsets.  
    East Coast bars start with a disadvantage — no sunsets. Of the 28 top-rated bars, St. Pete claimed five — Jimmy B’s, Bongos, Harry’s, Rumrunners and Toasted Monkey. Only nine on the East Coast managed a 5, including JB’s in Deerfield Beach, the closest to Boca. Boston’s scored a 4, as did Old Key Lime House in Lantana and Guanabanas and Square Grouper in Jupiter. Scoring 3s: Banana Boat and Two Georges in Boynton, Benny’s in Lake Worth and Deck 84 in Delray Beach.
                                ***
    If you can’t stand the kitchen, head for the heat. Josie’s Ristorante, right next to the Intracoastal bridge on Woolbright in Boynton, has cut all menus prices by 25 percent through September.  
    In Boca, Max’s Grille will heat up with a Q & Brew summer menu from 5 to 10 p.m. every Wednesday with pulled pork, chicken, brisket and shrimp in a variety of configurations, endless craft beer for $15 with dinner purchase and live music by Weekend Therapy.
    In Delray, Max’s Harvest has added half-inch-thick bacon, pork bellies, Southern fried chicken, spiked teas and Indian street corn with naan bread, pickled lime and paneer, and every Thursday a 1½-pound lobster, salad and dessert for $35.
                                ***
    But the big news is the return of Chef vs. Chef, a 16-week competition to find the area’s best chef. Pairings will be drawn June 15 at Max’s Harvest in Delray. Eight chefs from last year’s inaugural series will be joined by an equal number of new competitors.
    Not in the competition is last year’s winner, Jim Strine of Cafe Boulud, who edged Tryst’s John Thomas.
    “I wanted to give somebody else a chance,” Strine said, “but I will be involved.”
    That involvement will be an ultimate showdown with this year’s winner.
    Returning chefs include Victor Franco (Oceans 234), Jarod Higgins (Cut 432), John Thomas (Tryst), Blake Malatesta (50 Ocean), Eric Grutka (Ian’s Tropical Grille), Bruce Feingold (Dada), Aaron Goldberg (Bogart’s) and Adam Brown (The Cooper).
    New to the fry, er, fray, are Anthony Fiorini (13 American), Louie Bossi (Louie Bossi’s), Josh Hedquist (Sweetwater), Jordan Lerman (Jardin), Chuck Gittleman (Kapow! Noodle Bar), Kemar Griffith (Rusty Hook Tavern), Kevin Darr (City Cellar) and Clayton Carnes (Cholo Soy).
    The weekly competitions will be held at Max’s Harvest “after hours” — 9:30 p.m. For a  $10 donation, spectators receive a complimentary beer, glass of wine or cocktail. Proceeds benefit the Milagro Center.
                                ***

Even if he sells two properties, entertainer Billy Joel still has a place here.

    Hmmm. Let’s see. What punny title can we hang on the latest news?
Movin’ Out? You May Be Right? Don’t Ask Me Why?         

Regardless, Billy Joel is in a selling mood. In the spring of 2013, the piano man bought a home and adjacent vacant lot just north of Boynton Inlet for $19.3 million. He fixed up the place while reportedly attempting to the buy the next estate to the south owned by former Manalapan Mayor William (Tom) Gerrard. That deal never worked out.
In early November, Joel put the two properties on the market for $29 million but found no buyers, so in April he cut the price for the package by $2 million. Agent Jack Elkins also has them listed as separate parcels — $19.5 million for the “single-family home,” $9.5 million for the lot.
But Joel isn’t packing up his keyboard and heading north, unless 1.2 miles up A1A is considered north. Because he also owns a little bungalow there — a fact that some real estate publications and gossip writers have missed.
In January 2015, he paid Donald Adam, a Texas banker,  $22.1 million for the 18,886-square-foot Mediterranean style house built in 2004. The 1.6-acre lot was once part of the Vanderbilt estate. And it’s on the ocean, not across the street.
Meanwhile, Billy’s busy: Harrah’s Ak-Chin (as in ak-shun) in Maricopa, Ariz., June 8,  the Arizona Broadway Theatre in Peoria, June 13, his monthly show at Madison Square Garden, June 17, Newcastle upon Tyne in England, June 19, and three shows in Reykjavik, Iceland, in a schedule that carries him into March.
                                ***

Marilynn Wick and her Wick Theatre and Costume Museum hope to raise $5 million. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Where there’s a will there’s a way. In 2013, the Wick Theatre and Costume Museum opened in Boca, hoping to succeed where the Caldwell Theatre Company had failed. Marilynn Wick cut a deal with Legacy Bank, which held the mortgage, to rent the building with an option to buy.
    Three years later, the foundation is a bit more stable because The Wick has bought the building, taking out a $5 million mortgage with Newell Small Finance. The challenges ahead include expanding and enhancing the building, upgrading sound and lighting systems, adding a partial fly loft and an orchestra pit beneath the stage and, of course, making the payments.
    To do that, the theater has set several goals: a $5 million fundraising campaign ($100,000 already pledged), increase its subscriber base from 2,800 to 5,000, develop a children’s theater and most important, begin producing touring shows.
    For starters, how about The Unsinkable Molly Brown, with Marilynn Wick in the lead!
                                ***
Elegant but never haughty, Cafe L’Europe in Palm Beach just celebrated its 36th anniversary. Owners Norbert and Lidia Goldner have brought back their summer three-course prix fixe menu for an un-Palm Beachy $49.50. Plus David Crohan on piano.
    The new kid on the block in Palm Beach is Meat Market, an upscale steakhouse at 191 Bradley Place. Its history as a restaurant goes back 70 years to 1946, when Maurice’s opened as “a bit of old Italy.” The typical Italian menu — pasta and pizza — no doubt appealed to guests at the Biltmore Hotel across the street and students at Palm Beach High across the bridge.
    Needless to say, the area has changed: The Biltmore is now a luxury condo and Palm Beach High is Dreyfoos School of the Arts. High-rises abound; the bridge was rebuilt.
    The two-story stucco building, originally a Spanish-style house built in 1925, has gone through more rejuvenations than a Palm Beach dowager. It remained Maurice’s until 1989 and for a brief period in the ’80s and ’90s was owned by Franklyn DeMarco, the master of Ta-boo on Worth Avenue.
    Maurice’s, which once featured strolling guitarists, begat Lulu’s and noisy pop sounds, which begat Janeiro with Brazilian jazz, which begat Club Y — a nightclub once described as the “best place to meet single men who own yachts,” which gave way to Palm Beach Steakhouse, until … Meat Market.
    Out are the stucco and low ceilings; in are rich leather, gleaming woods, slivers of mirrors and mammoth chandeliers hanging from vaulted ceilings. Lots of familiar faces — golf pros, TV and film stars, baseball players, race car drivers … and occasionally, with friends, the tall guy (yes, Michael Jordan!), about 6-6, walking on air, who sits down and with a wide smile says, “Bring me a drink,” although the staff does not know what he likes. He orders a steak and then directs attention to his smartphone in order to keep track of his bets.
    Incidentally, unconfirmed reports identify that favorite drink as 8 ounces of Gatorade,  a shot of Jack Daniels and four packs of Pop Rocks.
    Just do it!
                                ***
    While in Palm Beach …  this may be the off-season, but the music never stops at The Colony Hotel’s Royal Room. Members of the Young Broadway Stars Summer Residency Program will do Friday and Saturday shows for a minimum of two weeks.
Singer, musician, comedian, actor and composer Wayne Hosford plays June 3, 4, 10 and 11, followed by Birdland and Tanglewood favorite Spencer Day (June 17, 18, 24 and 25). Ariana Savalas (yes, one of those Savalases) takes over for all of July and Carole J. Bufford through Labor Day.
Bufford, a Georgia girl turned Manhattan cabaret sensation, has an unusual repertoire that runs from All Shook Up to Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man of Mine to Folsom Prison Blues.
Tying in with the shows, The Colony has launched “Music, Music, Music,” a special two-night weekend stay including Motown Friday night dance party, Royal Room dinner and show, full English breakfast, free parking and Netflix — $650 per couple.
                                ***
    Across the bridge, the Norton is closed — but only for five weeks.  
    To prepare for the upcoming renovation and expansion that will continue into 2018, the museum has shut down in order to reconfigure so it can remain accessible to the public.
    With the reopening, set for July 5, visitors will be provided free shuttle from the parking lot on South Dixie to the east entrance. And admission will be free until the expansion is complete.
Art After Dark, blending art, music, film and food, resumes July 7. Major exhibitions will include the biennial Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers in October and the sixth annual Recognition of Art by Women next January.  

Reach Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.

The Plate: Chicken tenders sandwich
The Place: Pearl’s Next Generation, 618 Lantana Road, Lantana; 582-4366 or www.pearlshomecooking.com.
The Price: $8.49
The Skinny: My daddy had a soft spot for Pearl’s.
This Lantana mainstay has been in business for more than 50 years and had a personal touch he couldn’t resist during many a breakfast at the counter.
It’s now called Pearl’s Next Generation after its founder, Pearl, retired and her children and grandchildren took over.
The day we stopped for lunch, a group of Red Hat Society members was meeting and having a blast. Locals also were dropping in for a meal.
The company is good, but they wouldn’t come were it not for the food.
This chicken tenders sandwich boasted hand-cut and breaded tenders that were fried until crispy and juicy. Pearl’s Buffalo sauce lent the chicken a nice touch of fire.
The roll was perfectly toasted too — a treat when so many restaurants do not understand the depth that a toasted roll lends to a sandwich.
— Scott Simmons

J.W. Alden of Hypoluxo got $1,000, a trophy and inclusion of his short story in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Ron Hayes

    For 10 long years, J.W. Alden worked the graveyard shift at one of those mammoth retail warehouses. Maybe Costco, maybe Sam’s Club, he’d rather not say.
    He was the guy who spent his nights driving the forklift, stacking giant pallets of bottled water and toilet paper over the aisles.
    He got home about 6 a.m. His wife, Allison Goff, left for work at 8. During the day, he tried to write science fiction stories.
    And then one morning she looked at him and asked, “James, when are you going to just be a writer? Why don’t you just quit and write full-time?”
For his wife, it wasn’t a tough call.
“He was a gray version of himself,” she remembers, “unhappy, stuck in the grind with no time to be creative.”
As the director of member and visitor services at the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, she made a decent salary. She was climbing, happy in her career, but her husband clearly wasn’t.
“I wanted us both to achieve our goals and couldn’t stand to bear witness to him wasting his talent or his time,” she said.
    That was three years ago.
In April, the Hypoluxo resident was flown to Los Angeles, put up in a fancy hotel for a week and given a check for $1,000 and a trophy for his story, The Sun Falls Apart, at the 32nd L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future awards.
    “The only thing I had to pay for was my food,” he said. “It was a very cool experience walking down Hollywood Boulevard to the writers workshop every morning.”
    Founded in 1983 by Hubbard, the prolific sci-fi writer and founder of Scientology, the award celebrates only a dozen writers out of thousands of submissions. Alden spent the week learning from such science fiction luminaries as Orson Scott Card, Tim Powers and Larry Niven, and came home with a copy of L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Vol. 32, containing his work.
    The Sun Falls Apart is the story of Caleb, a boy who has never seen the sun. Raised behind boarded windows and a fortified door, his only hope of freedom is by passing strange tests his parents give him and for which he must use a power he doesn’t understand.
    “I’ve been writing off and on since I was a kid,” Alden said, “but my love of science fiction has changed over the years. As a kid, it was all about the sense of wonder and possibility, space travel and magic. Now I see science fiction and fantasy also have the potential for metaphor and allegory. You’re not confined to reality, so you can make a statement without being obvious.”
    After stepping off the forklift in 2013, Alden was accepted almost immediately into the six-week Odyssey Writing Workshop at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Then he came home and turned the family condo’s spare bedroom into a writing cave.
    “OK,” he told himself, “I want to see how far I can go and make this dream a reality.”
    The dream is still more dream than reality, but it’s gotten more real. He’s sold 10 stories, about five to professional markets, and always been paid.
    “I’ve never sunk to the unpaid level to get published,” he said, “even if I’m only paid a penny a word.”
Having a husband who sits home conjuring fantasy worlds after she heads off to work is fine with his wife.
“I wanted him to focus on his writing so I could see a different version of him,” Goff said, “one with a genuine passion and perseverance. Neither of us has looked back once.”
At the awards ceremony April 10, Alden thanked his wife.
    “I can’t communicate in words how vital she is to my growth as a writer,” he said, “and a person.”
    Now, with published stories and a recognized writing award, his next challenge is to find an agent and boldly go where so many struggling writers have gone before — a first novel.
    “I do have an idea for a novel,” he said. “I’m a little nervous about it but also excited. It feels a little like reaching into the unknown.”
    For more information, visit www.AuthorAlden.com and www.writersofthefuture.com.

By Steve Pike
    
Unlike most artists of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was famous during his lifetime. It was a brief, tumultuous life. Born in Milan, Italy, in 1571, Caravaggio — the father of Baroque art — died in poverty and mystery in 1610 in Porto Ercole, Italy.
    Now, more than 400 years after he was found on a beach and died in a hospital run by monks, part-time Delray Beach resident Diana Nicosia weaves a tale in the same vein as The Da Vinci Code in her first novel.
    Nicosia, an accomplished and well-known painter with studios in Boston and Delray Beach, used her knowledge of Italy and Italian art history as well as her eye for detail and research to produce a great piece of storytelling that’s part art history, part travelogue and part historical fiction.
    The Caravaggio Contract (Merrimack Media) is available on Amazon.com for $17.95. It’s a sweeping story that involves a Rome antiques dealer, two Caravaggio paintings missing since the artist’s death, murder and Italian crime syndicates.
    “I’ve lived in all the places I write about — Naples, Capri, Rome,” said Nicosia, whose paintings of Italian landscapes have been shown at galleries worldwide.
    Nicosia’s former home in Ansedonia, in southern Tuscany, was just above the beach where Caravaggio’s body was found, so she has a personal relationship with his history and the area.
    “The land where he walked, I’ve walked,” said Nicosia, who began writing the self-published book more than eight years ago when the recession forced the closing of galleries that displayed her art. “It was like participating in my own funeral. I thought, is this the end of my career?’ ”
    It turned out not to be the end of her art career, but the seedling of her writing career. Nicosia answered an ad in an art club newsletter that was searching for writers.
    “I told them I hadn’t done any creative writing since college, but they accepted me,” Nicosia said.
    One day when Nicosia was painting in the Vatican Gardens — a rare treat for artists —she began talking to priests who were visiting on a day trip. The conversation naturally turned to Caravaggio and his mysterious demise near Nicosia’s residence.
    “They said, ‘You don’t know the story?’ So they told me the story.’’
    What the priests told Nicosia became the inspiration for The Caravaggio Contract.
    “It was fun to have that premise and fun to see how the story unwound,” Nicosia said. “It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton had its 23rd annual day of good deeds, including a barbecue at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church to feed people in need. In all, more than 1,000 pounds of clothing, food and toiletries was collected. ABOVE: Congregation B’nai Israel committee member Penny Laufer gleans at a farm in Boynton Beach. Photo provided

Fifth-graders concluded a schoolwide collection drive to support the Alliance for Kids at Palm Beach Children’s Hospital at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Boxes of bandages were gathered and donated to children in need. In all, 481 boxes — a total of 12,083 bandages — were donated. ABOVE: (l-r) Lacey Kennemer, 11; Laine Phipps, 10; teacher Lina Lacy; and Morgan Gallagher, 10. Photo provided

This year, instead of flowers or jewelry or a colorful scarf that she may or may not like, give your mother a day away with someone she loves: You!

Vino Van Gogh holds a wine and dine and paint at the Tideline Ocean Resort in Palm Beach. Guests get instruction as they sip wine and nibble appetizers. Vino Van Gogh also holds regular classes at its Delray Beach studio. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter  

Mother’s Day presents wrapped up in a bow can be lovely and thoughtful. But is that what the woman who raised you really wants? Nah. What she really wants is time with her baby — even if her baby is no longer a baby.  
So how about giving her what she wants with a special day in which you do something she doesn’t ordinarily get to do? Perhaps a moonlight paddle through the Everglades, a culinary tour, or an afternoon tea at a ritzy resort?
Your Mommy and Me fun day doesn’t have to be limited to Mother’s Day. Any time in May would be peachy. Any time at all would be appreciated. Go ahead and wrap yourself in a bow, if you insist. No matter how you present the gift of you, Mom will be grateful because you’re giving Mom fond memories of time spent with you.

Here are some suggestions.
Paint, drink and be merry. Mom may not have saved all those paintings you made for her as a kid (and she proudly displayed on her refrigerator door). But maybe it’s time to show her what you can do with a brush now. Put a paintbrush in her hand, as well, and just to get you both in the mood (and less  critical of the artwork you create), uncork a bottle of wine and let the creative juices flow. Sign up for a group painting class (or have a private party) at Vino Van Gogh, 153 NE Fourth Ave., Delray Beach. Step-by-step instructions from a real artist, canvases, paint, brushes, easels and aprons are provided.  $35-$40 per person. 272-5272, www.vinovangohfl.com.

Paddle through the Everglades in the moonlight. Give Mom an enchanted evening and a chance to work on her upper body strength without risking sunburn. You could see alligators, deer and some of the 257 species of birds at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge in western Boynton Beach.  
    Guided full-moon canoe trips are scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. May 21, June 18 and July 16. Canoe rental is $33. Reservations required. Friends of Loxahatchee Refuge, 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach, 733-0192. www.loxahatcheefriends.com/events/events.shtml

Diva Duck will take you and Mom on a tour by land and by water.

Board Diva Duck for local history and a dose of silliness. Share some giggles with Mom as you cruise through the streets of downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach and sail past the mansions of the rich and famous in the amphibious vehicle known as Diva Duck.  Riders are encouraged to make quacking noises as they go. Prepare for an onslaught of puns. $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, $15 for ages 5-15, and $5 for kids under 5. The 75-minute tour departs from CityPlace, 600 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach; 844-4188; divaduck.com.

The Mounts Botanical Garden hosts its Connoisseurs Garden Tour on Mother’s Day weekend. Photos provided

Take time to smell the roses. You can always buy Mom a big bouquet of flowers. But this year, consider a garden tour. The Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County hosts its 12th annual Connoisseurs Garden Tour, a Mother’s Day tradition, May 7-8. The eight public and private gardens are in Atlantis, Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Royal Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.
The costs to participate are $20 for Mounts members and $25 for nonmembers and may be purchased at the Garden Shop at Mounts Botanical Garden; Amelia’s Smarty Plants in Lake Worth; Delray Garden Center in Delray Beach; Giverny Gardens in Jupiter; Johnny Mango’s Produce in Boynton Beach; and Uncle Bim’s Garden Center in West Palm Beach. 233-1757; www.mounts.org.  ;

 
Just say spahhh. Several local resorts offer spa specials for moms to deliver the pampering they so richly deserve. Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa in Palm Beach has a Mom-and-I spa package that includes two customized facials, side-be-side mani/pedis, an updo session for Mom with a hair designer, a certificate for $50 off and two drinks. Price: $584. 540-6440;  www.tidelineresort.com.
The Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan offers personalized treatments for Mom, too. Just for Mother’s Day, the spa is offering a series of specials, including Mother’s Perfect Day, a daylong spa visit that includes a 30-minute body scrub, 60-minute massage, 60-minute facial, classic manicure and pedicure followed by a hair blow-out. The Mother’s Perfect Day is $590 and includes complimentary champagne and 10 percent off any retail purchases. 533-6000; www.eaupalmbeach.com.

Try tea for two and a mini vacation at a historic hotel. The Boca Raton Resort & Club invites children to spoil their moms with a whimsical Afternoon Tea Under the Palms. The courtyard restaurant, Palm Court, pairs decadent sweet bites with single origin Sri Lankan loose-leaf teas of Dilmah for a relaxing and exquisite afternoon.      For an ultra-luxe experience, schedule a relaxing spa treatment. May spa specials include a $90 Zentz Quench manicure and pedicure, as well as a $90 traditional ritual bath and 25-minute massage.
    Available exclusively to resort guests, Afternoon Tea Under the Palms costs $50. Nightly rates start at $249. 888-543-1286; www.bocaresort.com.  

Lori J. Durante leads her Taste History culinary tours of neighborhoods throughout the county, including Northwood.

Save your appetite for a culinary tour. You and Mom can eat your way through any number of great restaurants in our area. Or you could sign up for one of Lori J. Durante’s Taste History culinary tours, and the planning and transportation will be done for you. Tours explore Boynton Beach, Lantana, Lake Worth and the Northwood Village Arts and Entertainment District.Besides sampling great food, you’ll learn a little local history. Tours range from $45 to $50. 243-2662; www.tastehistoryculinarytours.org.

Any mom would enjoy a performance at The Wick Theatre. Currently playing: I Love a Piano, with the music of Irving Berlin.

Treat Mom to a twilight tour, dinner and a show. If Mom loves the theater and music, she’ll enjoy a twilight tour of the Costume Museum at the Wick, dinner at the Wick’s Tavern on the Green and then a show. From now through May 15, the Wick presents I Love a Piano, with music of Irving Berlin. For pricing and other information, call 995-2333, ext. 6094. 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton; www.thewick.org.

Even with the 2015-16 social season coming to a close, board, committee and staff members at local nonprofits remain busy planning events for 2016-17, including the George Snow Scholarship Fund.
    Debi Feiler, vice president of program services, announced the date of Boca’s Ballroom Battle — Aug. 22 — and identified the dancers who will undergo rigorous training to perform professional routines at the Boca Raton Resort & Club to raise money for college-bound students. This year’s community dancers are: Donna Biase, Dan Davidowitz, Alex Eremia, Peter Gary, Bonnie Halperin, Stacey Packer, Doug Paton and Samantha Vassallo. The ninth annual benefit is patterned after the popular Dancing With the Stars television program.
    “This is the do-not-miss event of the summer, as eight of our community’s most recognizable personalities take to the dance floor for a good cause — not to mention that coveted mirror-ball fundraising trophy,” President Tim Snow said.
    Tickets start at $185 and include two drinks and hors d’oeuvres stations. Call 347-6799 or visit scholarship.org.
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    The Spirit of Giving Network is in the news after appointing Sue Diener as executive director.
Diener is a veteran in the nonprofit industry, having served as a volunteer for nearly 30 years. She is the former president of Impact 100 Palm Beach County and a past president of the Junior League of Boca Raton.
    “A longtime resident, Sue has a wealth of experience in the nonprofit arena,” Spirit of Giving Network President Ann Rutherford said.
    Diener will be responsible for supporting the agency’s 60 nonprofit member groups, strengthening community partnerships and promoting volunteerism.
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    A $15,000 grant from the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation will pave the way for an interactive health-clinic exhibit at the Boca Raton Children’s Museum.
    The exhibit, titled “Living Healthy Living Well,” will let little ones play doctors, nurses and patients in a make-believe medical setting.
    “By providing high-quality early arts, science and creative education through hands-on exhibits and classes, our children have the opportunity to play, which is the work they need for a lifetime of success,” museum President and CEO Ellyn Okrent said, noting that play enables children to learn about and interact with their world and gain the mental, physical and social skills necessary to succeed in adulthood.
    “We’re pleased to support the Living Healthy Living Well exhibit,” foundation President Mark Larkin said. “It’s a great opportunity for children to learn about their health in a fun and imaginative setting.”
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    Impact 100 Palm Beach County set a record — again — by recruiting 532 members who collectively donated $532,000 to local charities.
    Grants of $100,000 went to Alzheimer’s Community Care, American Association of Caregiving Youth, Camelot Community Care, Delray Students First and YMCA of South Palm Beach County at the fifth annual Grand Awards Ceremony, which celebrated the theme “Power of Women Giving as One!” Flamingo Clay Studio and the Florida Atlantic University Foundation Pine Jog Environmental Education Center each received $16,000.
    The organization, whose members each agree to make a $1,000 contribution and attend one meeting to vote on which organizations will receive funds, scored another coup when it was announced the 2016 Impact 100 Global Conference will take place in Delray Beach. The conference, scheduled for Oct. 23 through 25, is designed to encourage collaboration and the sharing of best practices among Impact 100 groups around the world to allow for continued growth and sustainability.
 
To submit your event, contact Amy Woods at flamywoods@bellsouth.net.

The stars were shining as the Michael & Madelyn Savarick Trust presented a special event in the Countess de Hoernle Theatre that featured New York City Ballet principal dancers Megan Fairchild, Gonzalo Garcia and Daniel Ulbricht plus several other artists. After the event, guests turned out at the Boca Ballet Theatre for a lavish party with a red-carpet welcome. ABOVE: (l-r) Heather Fryxell, Elizabeth Dudley and Sara Lane. Photo provided by Silvia Pangaro