There must be a million parties like this in Austin every year. But you hardly ever hear about them. They fill a living room and a backyard. They generate a good time and some cash for a noble cause.
William Archer and Elizabeth Adams
In this case, marketer and drink blogger Matt McGinnis and his wife Suzanne invited dozens of their guests over to raise $5,000 for Livestrong, the cancer nonprofit which is doing fine despite the troubles of its founder Lance Armstrong.
Suzanne and Matt McGinnis
In a novel twist, the McGinnises borrowed one of those banners from Livestrong so that photographers and snappers like myself would promo the charity whenever they shot an entering couple. They also snazzed up the backyard with furniture and lamps. At first I thought their kids’ trampoline was a rental for a cage fight, but alas no …
Ed and Susan Auler
I ran into wine pioneers Susan and Ed Auler, whose Fall Creek Vineyards not only processes the grapes for Scott Roberts’ Salt Lick Cellars, I learned, but also has reclaimed lakefront land on Lake Buchanan during the drought. (One now travels by land rather than by water to their famous falls.)
Spent time with Elizebeth Adams and her brother William Archer. We shared Archer stories. I lockered below William “Reyn” Archer for one year in high school. He’s the son of U.S. Rep. Bill Archer (R, Houston) and later a Bush appointee to the post of Texas Commissioner of Health. When Reyn got into trouble for the usual political falderal, the press pummeled the other William Archer — the party Archer — with questions.
He took it good-naturedly.