- November 2, 2024
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The Paradise Center is a long-standing nonprofit that offers a range of high-quality services to the residents of Longboat Key. On the other hand, it’s kind of a party central.
Fittingly, the annual fundraiser was a dress-up dance party called Dancing Through the Decades.
“We have a reputation to uphold for having fun parties," CEO Suzy Brenner said. "We have a couple people that literally only come to our parties because they like to dance. They don’t want to sit down for dinner for an hour and a half. They want to come in, have a glass of wine, dance, say 'Hi' to friends, and go.”
Over 60 people bought tickets for the dance, and for those who didn’t want to miss the start of the Super Bowl, it was playing in the other room.
Harry’s Continental Kitchens set up a buffet and passed around trays of appetizers. It was the perfect pre-game party made more fun by trading football jerseys for wild outfits.
Guests fully embodied their decades and all the accouterments. Brenner was puffing on a cigarette with attitude, while Carol Paschel was waving her martini glass in the air as if she was ringing a bell.
Hippies filled the room with peace signs and headbands. But Irina LaRose added some 1950s greaser to the mix with a Pink Ladies jacket, and Donna Sharp Blaney pulled up her leg warmers for a hot pink throwback to 1980s dance aerobics.