Friday night's Helios Bash marked the first event put on by the auxiliary board of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, otherwise known as the Society of Urban Nature or—and this explains the name of the event— SUN. Drawing approximately 100 young professionals, Helios served as a fund-raiser for the museum's nature education programs.
Tony Williams, chair of SUN, headed up the event's 10-month planning process. In making arrangements for the evening, which overtook a terrace-equipped room on the museum's second floor and comprised cocktails, a dinner buffet, and DJ-driven dancing, Williams and his fellow board members focused on making environmentally friendly decisions.
The event was decidely green, with guests making electronic reservations instead of purchasing paper tickets. At Helios Bash, partygoers could read about eco-friendly initiatives while they waited for specialty "Summer Rain" martinis. On the bar, containers of Borta Box Wines sat beside framed signage explaining that Borta boxes are 100 percent recyclable and printed with soy-based ink.
Similar signage decorated the buffet table, which offered an assortment of foods from Hel's Kitchen, including organic tomato-and-goat-cheese flatbreads, and strudel stuffed with smoked free-range chicken, asparagus, and Camembert cheese. Framed announcements informed guests that the plants decorating the table were Florida coffee greens "grown with special water management techniques to maximize water flow to the Everglades." The signs also pointed out that any flowers at the event were plucked from "certified sustainable farms."
In lieu of gift bags, guests were presented with an energy-saving, 60-watt light bulb.