"Fiesta Verde" Goes Down on the Farm with Texas Style Barbecue

Preservation Society of Newport County Pierre & Kathy Irving

Elizabeth Leatherman with Pierre & Kathy Irving

"Whoopee-ti-yi-yo" was the theme at the Aquidneck Land Trust's Texas-style fundraiser Fiesta Verde, held recently at Swan Farm, the Trust’s facility in Portsmouth. Jeans and straw hats were the order of the evening, as guests sometimes sank in mud (there had been a recent rain storm), and removed any jackets they had been optimistically wearing, giving that authentic down-ranch feeling.

Along with co-chairs Patricia Bilden, Julie Coll, Michelle Kirby and Brynne Peck, who greeted arrivals, city slickers from Newport, New York and Palm Beach got into the swing with the music of Howard and the High Rollers.

Co-chair Patricia Bilden, Bettie Pardee

& Sharon Wood-Prince

Spotted with Happy van Beuren were Calvin Tomkins, stellar New Yorker writer, Guggenheim fellow, and author, and Dodie Kazanjian, an editor at Vogue. They all looked suitably cowboy as they mingled with Alison, Bill and Hope Vareika, ALT President Ted Clement and Buonsay Clement, Philip Bilden, Carolann Brown, Roger and Sandra King, Jerry Kirby and Kurt Richardson.

A kayak named "Wanda" was a hit of the silent auction, and there was a spectacular raw bar. The dinner was held under under two tents, with the menu reflecting the western theme, with biscuits, cornbread and fried catfish.

Roger & Sandra King

The Aquidneck Land Trust, now in its 21st year, states its mission as “Preserving Aquidneck Island's open spaces and natural character for the lasting benefit of our community.” Swan Farm is one of its conserved properties, a 124-acre , USDA prime farmland utilized by Aquidneck Farms.