Kortney Shapiro

There is a photo of my grandmother, whom may I add is still striking as ever, wearing arm-length white satin gloves, paired with a custom-made red velvet gown reminiscence of what Hepburn wore in her photo montage circa Funny Face. The photo was taken in 1960, on the evening of the Mount Sinai Gala.  Fifty years later, I am getting ready for the same event. 

Now in its 56th year, I had the pleasure of attending the Mount Sinai Gala last week, a glamourous event that supports the Mount Sinai Hospital Auxillary’s 4.5 million dollar pledge for women’s health. The ballroom in the Sheraton Centre Hotel was transformed into a scene out of a Gossip Girl: mothers in McQueen, husbands in Armani, and gorgeous girls dressed to the nines with young men standing side-field, nonchalantly eyeing the leggy crowd.

2010 marked the first annual young professionals portion of the Mount Sinai Gala, fittingly entitled “The Sinai Soiree”, whereby the post-dinner invite was extended to a younger crowd for sixty dollars a ticket.  I was happy to follow the tradition that my grandma began fifty years ago and had a terrific time mingling with the four hundred other young patrons; the next generation of support.

This year, Grammy Award-winning artist Lionel Richie had the entire ballroom of guests singing along to “All Night Long”. It was tricky to maintain balance as I held my champers in one hand and clutch in the other. But how can one not dance to this song? The crowd went wild and it was an enthusiastic hail back to 1983. 

A fabulous gala for an important cause, of all the Toronto fundraising events I’ve attended over the past year – this certainly tops the list in terms of a top-notch party. The tradition lives on!