Sip for SIFF 2013

A view out one of the Chihuly Boathouse windows

This weekend SIFF held their benefit event "Sip for SIFF" which featured some adult beverages to sample, fancy hors d'oeuvres from local restaurants and of course many, many ways to give SIFF money. I hadn't tried it in the past, and since I was flush with not attending Fantastic Fest cash (*sniffle*) I decided to see how the other half lives. The event took place at the Chihuly Boathouse which explains all the crazy glass installation photos below. The whole space is a free ranging art installation ranging from a giant table overhung with crazy glass sculptures, random sort of art stuff (including a car and bathrooms lined with children's adventure books), to a lap pool ... overhung with crazy glass installations. There's also what looks like a working glass blowing area - which doubled as the restaurant setup and live auction site.

If you've considered attending the event, here's what goes on. First there's a section for wine tasting into which is ensconced a bunch of items to bid on in a silent auction. Then you can wander around the space of the boathouse - wherein were setup four vermouth craft cocktail creators (I was told that a hard alcohol license for the event wasn't available for some reason). Local mixologists vied for supremacy with a made for the event concoction. Then on to the "hot shop" for eating small bites, and toward the end of the evening a live auction stuffed with awesome donated items for a range of tastes. It was OK, but not really totally my scene. Much like 42nd street of old, everyone was very very nice and outgoing - until they learn you're not buying that evening. Kidding aside, I did actually bid on one item, but thankfully for SIFF's bankroll someone wanted it a lot more than I did. From what I can tell SIFF did pretty well from the evening.

At the end of the evening I thought I was being clever getting out to un-valet my car ahead of the crowd, but due to some involved ~~screw-up~~ non-linear car return algorithm I got my vehicle back basically last. Perhaps my embarrassing ride was parked in the back behind all the BMW's and Audi's. I did take some photos, more of which are after the jump. For higher resolution versions of the shots below you can jump over to this album.