Inaugural charity events honors former NST resident
Popular Global Labor Day Event Returns
STORY BY
STEPHEN VRATTOS
Photo by Rose Tracey One of the NST community’s
most popular events
returns this coming Labor
Day when the VIP Room hosts
its 2nd Annual Dîner en Blanc.
Conceived and launched 29 years
ago, Dîner en Blanc is a worldwide
event, spanning six continents, in
which people, clad in white, gather
in a public space for an impromptu
pop-up picnic to enjoy quality food,
drink and camaraderie. Participants
are required to provide their own
food, tables, chairs, linens and utensils.
Only a select number of people,
who have previously signed up are
made privy to the location the day of
the dinner and converge in an iconic
city location at a moment’s notice.
The concept began as a reunion
in Paris in 1988, when Frenchman
François Pasquier invited 100
friends to an elegant outdoor dinner
at Bois de Boulogne—a public
park west of Paris—asking them
to dress in white so they could
find each other. That modest
number in Paris has grown to tens
of thousands at locations across the
world, including Montréal in 2009,
Singapore in 2012 and Melbourne
in 2015. In 2011, New York City
hosted its inaugural Dîner en
Blanc at the then World Financial
Center, attracting more than 1,000
participants. Subsequent Dîner
en Blancs have occurred at such
iconic Gotham gathering spots as
Lincoln Center Plaza and Bryant
Park, with the list of attendees
growing to 10,000, with a waiting
list of more than 30,000.
“We’re looking forward to our
second year doing this. Last year
was a tremendous success,” said
Board Member and House and
Grounds Chair Phyllis Goldstein,
one of the prime facilitators of
the affair with June Schwarz and
Evelyn Pinsky. She’d been nudging
Country Club Manager Mary
Anne Langone for several years
for the club to host a North Shore
Towers Dîner en Blanc of its own.
Far from resistant, Langone, too,
wanted to comply, but the logistics
of the event, if followed faithfully
as conceived, were anathema to
Towers Men’s Golf Association
President, Stan Yoel, standing on
left with Herb Greenberg
the structure of the club and co-op.
Such signature features as guests
bringing their own table, chairs and
linens and conducting the event
at a moment’s notice at differing
yearly locales were untenable here.
Turning a blind eye to such particulars,
the Country Club launched
its inaugural Dîner en Blanc last
Labor Day. Originally intended to
be an al fresco affair, heavy winds
forced its relocating inside the VIP
Room. The rented tables and chairs,
swathed in elegant white were
hurried inside moments before
the scheduled start with none the
1st Annual Herb
Greenberg
MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
FOR CANCER CARE
Sunday, September 16, 2018
18 Holes—Prizes, Gifts &
Raffles
Breakfast 7:30 a.m.
Tee-off 8:30 a.m.
Lunch 1:30 p.m.
Donation $125 (whether playing
golf or not)
Includes All Food, Open
(FREE) Bar at Lunch and
Golf Play
Open to all, BUT each group
must have at least one member
of the North Shore Towers Golf
Association playing with them.
Ladies Welcome.
Make checks payable to
“THE AMERICAN CANCER
SOCIETY”
wiser, as the room quickly filled
with groups as small as two and as
large as ten, homemade or takeout
meals in hand, each greeted with a
complimentary apèrtif and DJ-spun
music. “Blanc”-analians ate, drank
and danced the night away, making
the event a highlight of the year.
The impending 2nd annual affair
on September 3 promises to be
even better and Goldstein urges
residents to sign-up as soon as
possible. “We’ve increased capacity
to accommodate even more this
time,” Goldstein said. “But we
expect it to sell-out quickly.”
STORY AND PHOTO
BY STEPHEN VRATTOS
It was shortly after the record
breaking Babes & Guys
event in 2017, North Shore Towers
Country Club Men’s Golf (TMGA)
Association Board Member, Arnie
Cammeyer, decided those members
with a Y chromosome ought to do
more. Fortunately, they had the perfect
inspiration in one of their former
members. Herb Greenberg—“Hesh”
to his friends—served as TMGA
President, before the current Prez,
Stan Yoel, succeeded him in 2015,
after Greenberg lost a bout with cancer.
Greenberg was a beloved figure
of TMGA and NST community, but
more important, he turned the Men’s
Golf Association around.
Over the past few years, the
golf course has seen its 40-yearold
holes and fairways renovated,
bringing the course into the
21st-Century, enhancing play and
increasing its desirability and ability
to lure outsiders. Greenberg may
not have been the one to come up
with the idea to do something about
the aging, moribund course, but he
was certainly the driving (no pun
intended) force behind getting the
project moving.
Greenberg also launched an
aggressive marketing campaign to
promote the NST Country Club
Men’s Golf Association, including
ads in Newsday, getting the word
out to area golf aficionados that the
Club was not exclusive to NST residents.
Greenberg’s efforts increased
sponsored memberships and helped
create a course, which has served to
keep the Club’s membership robust
when other local clubs have seen
theirs dwindle.
“I wanted to ensure all the sponsored
members who wanted to join
the Memorial could, so we scheduled
it for a Sunday, when most
are off from work,” Cammeyer
explained. “But anyone who wants
to make a difference can sign up,
even if they don’t play golf. They
can enjoy breakfast in the morning
and FREE open bar starting at 1
p.m. at Towers on the Green, which
is also hosting the luncheon at that
time.”
No one lauds Greenberg more
vociferously than his successor, Stan
Yoel, who was also a dear friend
of the former president. “Herb’s
passion, dedication, knowledge
and work ethic made an enormous
impact on the Towers Golf Club.
Among his many successes, Herb
was the impetus behind the renovation
of our golf course. More
importantly, he was a strong leader, a
gentleman and a good friend to all.”
The architects of NST's Dîner en Blanc (l. to r) Phyllis Goldstein, June
Schwarz, Mary Anne Langone & Evelyn Pinsky
August 2018 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 3