Vibe Check: Summer SPACtacular

And the award for best dancer at SPAC's inaugural fundraising event goes to...

Fireworks over the party tent.

When SPAC’s Kristy Ventre told me way back in March about the organization’s inaugural SPACtacular gala coming up on June 2, she described it like this: “It’s going to be a bonanza like no other.” Needless to say, three months later, I went into the event with high expectations. And, needless to say, those expectations were met.

The evening began at 5pm (you can’t party all night if you don’t start early!) on the SPAC stage, for a cocktail hour featuring jazz music by the Chuck Lamb Duo and passed vegan (!) hors d’oeuvres by Meadowlark Catering. Somehow, this vegan only got one fake-bacon-wrapped date before falling into conversation with Andrea Zappone, who was wearing a butterfly pattern suit that my friend, whose name is also Andrea, described as “very Selling Sunset.” (Andrea #1 would later ask me to remind her of Andrea #2’s name, much to her own horror.)

After the cocktail hour, we found our way to the dinner tent, which, in two days, would be transformed into the chorale tent for SPAC’s 6th annual Festival of Young Artists. FOYA is just one piece of SPAC’s education programming for which SPACtacular was raising funds, a fact Senior Director of Education Dennis Moench and emcee Lydia Kulbida made very clear during the program. During a paddle raise, they explained what each level of sponsorship could achieve—all the way from $20,000, which would fund 10,000 students in SPAC’s Classical Kids program, down to $100, which covers a season lawn pass for one student. In between courses crafted from local ingredients by chefs Michael Blake and Kevin London, last year’s FOYA winner in the performance art category performed her original song “It’s Raining Out,” and this year’s winning visual art piece, “Bits Bobs and Everything In-Between,” was auctioned off for $5,000.

The Wild Mushroom Escabeche first course and Kilcoyne Beef with Puree of New Potatoes second course were catered by Lily & the Rose.

Things got far less civilized from there. Outside the dining tent, I ran into Austin Bayliss, senior director of events and special projects, trying to explain the moon’s trajectory across the sky to GM Leslie Collman-Smith (it was in the perfect place for a photo, but wouldn’t be for long); Diane Denny telling Holly Seidewand and Charles Grabitzky from First Fill Spirits to “hit her with their best shot” (literally); and Andrea #1 contemplating doing a handstand on The Ring Around photo booth’s platform (I talked her out of it).

Also in attendance were Kristy’s parents, the Godettes: Dave regaled me with tales of late-night tennis league after-parties at Ben & Jerry’s (the couple co-owns the franchise and Dave plays in my tennis league), and Saratoga writer/historian Carol echoed my own thinking when she told me “I think we might be best friends.” At dinner, we sat next to Four Seasons owners Rich Frank and Katie Capelli, soon-to-be empty nesters who are considering learning a language, though that would limit the scope of their daily dinner conversations even further. They also told me the story of how Rich came on board at Four Seasons following a tofu scandal, and how the couple met: She was a customer and he got her number off a check she paid with.

“Bits Bobs and Everything In-Between” by Johnstown sophomore Elliot Brownell won the visual arts category in this year’s Festival of Young Artists and was auctioned off at SPACtacular.

In the party tent—yes, there was a separate party tent with food stations and live music by Jes Hudak—I ran into Opera Saratoga’s Katrina Fasulo, a New York City native who has recently become enamored with fairs: cows, demolition derbies and all. We lamented that Opera Saratoga’s gala is on the same night as our Saratoga 25 party, but have teamed up with the organization to present a first-of-its-kind Single in Saratoga: Opera Edition before a production of Don Pasquale on July 7. (There are a limited number of tickets—get yours now!)

While a fireworks display would usually indicate the end of an event, at SPACtacular, it marked the beginning of the real fun: a dance party back on the SPAC stage under the full moon. Before heading back down there, DJ Justin Hart told me his game plan: Read the room and go from there. “I’m not playing for me,” he said of his yet-to-be-determined playlist. “I’m playing for them.”

Andrea Gorgen with 16-year-old Harper Connally (left), founder of The Ring Around 360 photo booth, and his friend.

As guests made their way to the stage and helped themselves to some liquid courage at the back bar, Justin kicked things off with a slow jam. “Are you Abby?” one woman demanded of my coworker who sometimes writes this very Substack.

“Yes?”

“This vibe’s gotta CHANGE!”

After stammering that she doesn’t work for SPAC, Abby was saved by Justin, who kicked off the dance tunes, causing a mad rush to the dance floor. Abby gave the now-twirling woman a thumbs up and smile from afar. “Spice Girls is something I’ll always take credit for,” she told me.

After that, the vibe didn’t waver. If you know me, you know I’ve spent a lot of time on dance floors in Saratoga. And never have I ever seen so many people actually dancing. Not just shuffling their feet—actually twirling, shimmying and one-upping one another in the moves department. “She’ll match anyone’s energy,” Saratoga Grazing Co.’s Erika Dibble warned me as her mom broke it down when I danced over. Monika LaPlante summed up the evening perfectly: “This event is really freaking fun.”

But who wins the award for best dancer? Read on for that big reveal and the rest of our party pics from SPACtacular.