Under the Party Tents, a Tasting of Summer

$175,000 Is Raised in Two-Day Event to Benefit Trust

By JESSIE ROYCE HILL

It is one of the Vineyard's few events at which everyone wears
shoes. Tasseled, pointy, strappy and high. They call it a stroll, but
the women, in their pink and green Lilly Pulitzer ensembles, more
likely teeter from vendor to vendor as they withdraw their heels from
the fresh grass into which they've sunk. The gentlemen, a
formation of navy blazers and bowties, outpace them.

On Thursday they feasted on seared haloumi and sheep's milk
cheese from the new Mediterranean restaurant in Tisbury; dewy
strawberries from Morning Glory Farm; soft shell crab from Lure, and
lobster macaroni and cheese from Atria.

On Saturday, at the annual auction, they bid on needlepoint luggage
racks and hand-hooked rugs.

With Jerry Bennett's nine-piece Sultans of Swing and Trip
Barnes providing soundtracks on the respective nights, Taste of the
Vineyard and its companion Patrons' Party netted $175,000 this
year for the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust.

"The quality of offerings was superb," said Chris Scott,
executive director of the trust, yesterday. "This was the best
we've done except for 2002 when we auctioned the Ford Thunderbird
for $38,000."

The gourmet stroll and auction together form the Trust's
signature fundraiser. Under lavish white tents on the grounds of the Old
Whaling Church and the Daniel Fisher House, nearly 1,000 people turned
out to eat, drink, spend and start the social season.

The funds they raised will help the trust maintain its 12 Island
properties, which include the Flying Horses and the Union Chapel, in
addition to the two sites on which the parties were held.

Seventy-five restaurants and wine merchants turned up at the Taste
of the Vineyard to offer their goods - a turnout which makes for
some strange bedfellows along the circuit of stations.

Paul Domitrovich, owner of the evening's most conspicuous
chest hair - peeking out from beneath his Hawaiian shirt as he
administered seafood jambalaya from Lola's booth, stood alongside
a trio of stick-straight blondes in black cocktail dresses pouring
microbrews.

Modest women arranging tidy circles of Chilmark Chocolates that were
snatched up by the manicured hands of strollers looked slightly abashed,
next to the full-throated charm of the purveyors of Yellow Tail wines
one table over.

The Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group's oyster table
resembled a beehive, its patrons slurping down Island-cultured fruits
from Katama Bay and Menemsha Pond faster than Rick Karney and his
colleagues could shuck them.

Their neighbors at the Fresh Pasta Shoppe flouted the South Beach
diet, handing out assorted gourmet pizzas made from white flour crusts.
"We don't make whole wheat crust," the chef stated.
"That's a little like selling bladeless knives, isn't
it?"

A man in a coat and tie, eschewing the pizzas, leaned in to his
friend. "I've been trying to do low carb, but I love
Dippin' Donuts," he said. (He may be chagrined to learn the
Island chain was bought out this spring, though the folks from
Humphrey's, the new owners, pledge to keep the familiar recipe.)

Along their down-home allée, the Homeport ladled quahaug
chowder as their neighbors dished out crab cakes with remoulade.

"I never would have gone to Fishbones before, but now I know
they make a great lobster quesadilla," remarked a woman in a Very
Vineyard green batik print dress under a white cardigan.

Two glamorous dancers in up-dos served Tex-Mex appetizers and lined
up the martini glasses. "Do the margaritas have alcohol?"
asked a tentative woman.

A portly gentleman resting between courses of tiramisu from Ciao
Bella discussed his bowtie. "They're getting harder to
find," he said. "I order them in shipments from a place in
Middlebury, Vt."

The dance floor was empty two hours into the event as the flow of
traffic gridlocked in the aisles. Eventually some young women on break
from their vendor's booth swung each other around. Others soon put
down their plates of seared ostrich tenderloin - a Zephrus
delicacy - and Asian-style duck confit from 67 Circuit and
followed suit.

Only the teenage boys sneaking beer from behind the cooking lines
and the too-sated patrons they had served awhile before demurred.

Two nights later at the auction, Mr. Barnes took his customary role
as auctioneer, reeling in $35,000 in sales on top of the $120,000 from
the party's ticket sales.

The top bid went for a Ray Ellis oil painting entitled Moonrise over
Chappy, bought for $12,000 by Peter Goltra.

The runner-up was a traditional wooden flagpole provided by Ross
Gannon and Nat Benjamin, which went to John Shaefer for $11,000.

A sailing trip on the Resolute followed by lunch at the yacht club
with Walter and Betsy Cronkite took in $7,800 from Mike Kidder.

It's not yet July - still toe-dipping weather for all
but the intrepid. The Taste of the Vineyard presages the summer's
season of haute cuisine benefits, auctions and deck parties. But at any
of them, you're liable to see flip-flops.