THE CROWD:Bloomie’s opening to benefit arts center

Attention all Bloomie’s shoppers and performing arts center devotees. Michael Gould, chairman and chief executive of Bloomingdale’s, will welcome the Orange County social crowd to a charity reception at the new Bloomingdale’s store at South Coast Plaza on May 2.

Bloomingdale’s General Manager Jim Murphy will join Gould and a roster of who’s who for the cocktail party, which will feature hors d’ oeuvres and entertainment on every level of the store. “Bloomingdale’s is proud to celebrate the opening of our South Coast Plaza store with an evening to benefit the Orange County Performing Arts Center,” Gould said, adding, “We applaud the center’s commitment to bringing the finest levels of artistic excellence and education to the people of Orange County, and we look forward to being a strong partner with the center in this community.”

To launch this partnership, the center’s president, Terrence W. Dwyer, joins community leaders — including Sandy and John Daniels, Jane and Jim Driscoll, William Gillespie, Joann Leatherby and Dr. Greg Bates, Gen. William Lyon and Willa Dean Lyon, Christopher W. Silva, and Henry and Elizabeth Segerstrom — who will all serve as honorary chairs for the gala opening reception.

The community is invited to join in this celebration, with all the proceeds benefiting the center’s community education and outreach programs.

Bloomingdale’s has offered to underwrite the party as well as donate 10% of the evening’s sales to the center. For more information and ticket sales, call (714) 556-2122, ext. 4249.

Cathy Kinney is the publicity chair for the upcoming Newport Harbor High School Home and Garden Tour. She reports that the 10th annual event will take place May 10, with an underwriters cocktail party set for May 3 at Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island.

The massive undertaking is being chaired this year by Ann Smyth and Debbie Springer. Seven spectacular residences will be featured in both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, all with very distinctive style and charm. The home tour will also feature a luncheon catered by the Stonefire Grill. Funds raised will be used to expand Newport Harbor High School academic programs. Tickets to the tour, including luncheon, are $60 and can be purchased at Feathers on 17th Street, Barclay Butera, Westcliff, Via Lido Drug on Via Lido in Newport Beach, and Marmi in Corona del Mar Plaza. For more information, send an e-mail to Cathy Kinney at rckinney@pacbell.net .

The Sarcoma Alliance will host a fundraiser April 21 at the Joe’s Garage Automotive Museum in Tustin. The event is being called “Hand in Hand” and will benefit the Suzanne Renee Leider Memorial Assistance Fund of the Sarcoma Alliance. Leider was a young woman who grew up in Newport Beach, a graduate of Newport Harbor High School, who died at a young age of the disease.

Family and friends honor Leider with the annual event, this year dedicated to the memory of Dr. Richard Gandin. The party will feature the music of Phil Shane with dinner, dancing and a live and silent auction. Guests are invited to wear vintage casual attire reminiscent of the 1950s. Tickets are $125 per person. The organizing committee includes Stephanie Leider, Sharon and Jack Leider, Carrie and Rob Young, Hillary and Jerry Hyman, Sue and Neil Bershad, Ruth and Ira Lott, Dorothy and Zane Leshner, and Linda and Frank Meyskens, among others. For reservations and more information, contact Sharon Leider at (949) 644-9932 or at seleider@cox.net.

It was a glamorous afternoon in the garden as the National Charity League Juniors of Newport Beach welcomed an elegant crowd of mothers and daughters to their 21st annual luncheon and fashion show. The Balboa Bay Club was the setting for the event, presided over by National Charity League Juniors President Diane Connelly. Also supporting the gathering were Karen Cook, Judith Watson and Sue Willett, all serving as co-chairs. The event began with a spectacular silent auction. Luncheon followed in the main ballroom with a fashion show of sixth-grade mothers and their daughters presented by Saks Fifth Avenue, South Coast Plaza and Gretchen Pace, general manager of the high profile store.

The tradition of the event is to honor the mothers and their sixth-grade girls for multigenerational devotion to the pursuits of the National Charity League. The mothers and daughters honored this year were Holly and Lily Anderson, Susan and Lauren Anderson, Diane and Catherine Connelly, Molly and Meredith Davin, Angi and Sally Evans, Krista and Emilie Jajonie, Debbie and Josephine Jarecki, Stacy and Caitlin Kofoed, Judith and Greer Wattson, Kerry and Shannon Barth, Cathy and Kari Hancock, Debbie and Caitlyn Johnson, and Suzanne and Jamie Searles.

National Charity League donors supporting the event also included Heather Klein, Kelly Wilson, Kathryn Flattum, Susan Beall, Allyson D’Eliscu, Loni Gritsch, Shawn Harris, Lea Beasley, Caroline Johnson, Catherine Pittman, Deanna Hanour, Kathryn Hoffman and Molly Davin, coordinator of the sixth-grade daughters for the fashion show.

The National Charity League philanthropies include the High Hopes Head Injury Program, the Harry and Grace Steele Children’s Center and the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.