BY: DIANE SUSTENDAL

Easter may have been gray and cold, but nothing banishes the good cheer that comes with pretty pastel bonnets, sweet little dresses and brightly colored eggs hidden in gardens vast and intimate.

Egg-stra Special
At the New Orleans Museum of Art, several hundred cute kids scrambled all over the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden on April 1 to find eggs inspired by Fabergé, have their faces painted, and pet live bunnies. Among those doing the hiding, organizing and planning was event chair Elizabeth Crawford assisted by her husband Keith Crawford and dedicated museum volunteers such as Ellen Miclette, Gail Asprodites, Cammie Mayer and Conchetta Levine.

A family enjoys looking for eggs during Save Our Cemeteries’ “Grits, Grillades and a ‘Scramble’ for Eggs” at St. Joseph Plantation.

Scrambling onto buses on April 1 were supporters of Save Our Cemeteries who headed to St. Joseph Plantation in Vacherie to brunch on chef John Folse’s grillades and grits, down milk punch and bloodies, and help search the grounds for Easter eggs.  Melanie and Steve Martin, the Duggins: David and Bitsy,  Scott and Sunny—as well as Jennifer and Patrick McCausland were a few on the committee that made this such a success. Hear René Fransen, who knows a thing or two about gardens, helped SOC executive director Louise Fergusson Saenz, Allain Hardin and Ed Bonin in the perfect placement of eggs.

The bonnets were colorful at various Easter parades in the French Quarter and on St. Charles Avenue, where even the lack of crowds didn’t dismay the celebration. Nor did cold weather bother those who headed out of town for holiday weekend. Rosemary James, in her hometown of Charleston, S.C., pulled out a pink tweed Chanel and teamed it with a pink wool fedora with flowers for the day.

Laura Plunkett at the Symphony Volunteers/Windsor Court Hotel recital.

Pal Bonnie Warren—she’s helping with the arrangements at Houmas House Plantation for this year’s Faulkner Society’s “Juleps in June”on June 3—headed to Baltimore to be with son Dr. Nathan Crone, his wife Catherine, and grandson Evan, who despite the weather wore his very first seersucker suit to church. Evan is 15 months old, and in true Southern style you can never start traditions too young.

Doings about Town and Out of Town
Virginia Saussy’s pre-Jazz Fest tradition—she always buys a new sundress—probably took place at Bergdorf Goodman. She accompanied style maven Mignon Faget, who showed the jewelry we know and love so well at a month-long trunk show at this famed New York emporium—with part of the proceeds going to our Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation.

Ann-Margret at the “Memory” screening.
photo: Skip Bolen

The Symphony Volunteers and the Windsor Court Hotel teamed to sponsor a concert and dinner on April 1 for a small, select group of LPO supporters. The Brasil Guitar Duo, the 2006 winners of the Concert Artist Guild International Competition, played Scarlatti, Bach and Djavan, then guests dined on artichoke bisque, grapefruit sorbet and filet mignon. Suzanne Bagwill and Laura Plunkett along with a committee including Nancy Pomiechowski, Josette and Becky Seifert, and Beth Goddard were also joined by some 20 members of the orchestra for the evening.

The world premiere of “Memory,” which begins in Brazil, was screened at the Landmark Canal Place Cinema with a gala dinner after at the Windsor Court Hotel. The movie staring Billy Zane, Dennis Hopper and Ann-Margret was directed by Opelousas native Bennett Joshua Davlin, who also wrote the novel from which the movie was made. Josh’s mother, Sheila Davlin and pal Phyllis Taylor co-chaired the event, which benefited the NOCCA Institute. And, yes, Ann-Margret was in town for the event.
 
Love and Birthdays
Romance is in the air … at Mater Dolorosa Ninette Brierre walked down the aisle with Chris Dauwalder on April 14, surrounded by old classmates from the Academy of the Sacred Heart, who flew in from everywhere to celebrate at the church and Orléans Club.

Barbara Motley at New Orleans Magazine’s Jazz All-Stars party at Tipitina’s.

Anne Chaffe will wed Ted Eichen, Skip Eichen’s son and Ann Strachan Eichen’s  stepson. We hear it will all be traditional—a church on St. Charles Avenue, reception at the New Orleans Country Club.

Like them or not, birthdays take on importance. The Georges family—Constantine, Alexa, John, Dathel, and mother Anita—helped Pam Georges Dongieux celebrate hers at Gautreau’s, which is the hot Uptown restaurant these days now that it’s re-opened. Maxine and Barry Fox and Wendy and Boatner Reilly dined the same night at another table. Moving into another part of the city: Marda Burton’s son Chris celebrated his birthday with a bash at his mother’s digs in the Quarter. His brother Richard and wife Theresa were there—the hostess even set up an alternate host in case she missed her flight from Japan or swooned from jet lag!

Still on a roll celebrating its 40th anniversary, New Orleans Magazine  hosted a salute to its 2006 & 2007 Jazz All-Stars on April 11 at Tipitina’s on Napoleon Avenue. Among those milling about enjoying red beans and jambalaya, laid-back music and applauding the well-deserved honorees (the 2007 honorees are in the April issue of New Orleans Magazine) were Greg Beuermann, Barbara Motley—with Sheelah Black, who is the New Orleans-born, NY resident, and star of “Cole,” which is at Le Chat Noir—and musicians too numerous to mention. Kudos to Geraldine Wyckoff, who chooses and “wrangles” the musicians—as she writes the article, sets up the photo shoots and helps with the awards ceremony.

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“Along the Avenue”?
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St. Charles Avenue,
110 Veterans Blvd., Ste. 123
Metairie, La. 70005,
Attn: Diane Sustendal. Or email
Diane at: diane@sustendal.net