A beautiful day with a lovely setting was the scene for the Women’s Board of St. Thomas Hospital’s first Day With the Horses on Saturday.
Tony and Lenora Petrarca opened their Richfield home for the event, which featured an elegant brunch and hayrides and tours of Hickory Lane Farm. Lisa and Heather Malyuk played eclectic folk music during the event. Chairwoman Madeline Bozzelli came up with the idea for the event after the Women’s Board decided to end its annual fundraiser, Day at the Races, which ran for 50 years.
“I wanted to continue with the horse theme,” Bozzelli said as she greeted guests with her husband, Libert, “and the Petrarcas graciously offered to host us.”
Ann Flannery said she came from Youngstown for the event to meet up with old friends.
Suzannah Lake looked elegant astride Starfire Bay, who stood patiently while meeting the guests. Lake and her husband, Ed Lake, are the trainers at Hickory Lane Farm. Guests sipped mimosas as they toured the show barn and met some of the beautiful Arabian horses.
Annette Tymcio and Ken Hoffman made friends with Majorca’s Fire, while Ginnie Abell petted Turn My Way.
“We decided to do something different this year,” Ann Loftus, president of the Women’s Board, said as she and her sister Mary Loftus, Irene Berger, Kathy Seikel, Nancy Demeter, Ruth Turley, Mela Castner and Brian and Brenda Cummins climbed aboard the hay wagon for a tour of the farm.
In an adjacent tent, chef Frank Zifer and his staff from Summa Catering Services prepared a soufflé of goat cheese, arugula and roasted peppers in puff pastry, apricot pork tenderloin and sweet potatoes for the brunch, enjoyed by Barb Steinhauer, Rob and Jill Stefancin, Liz Sargent, Isabelle Maglione Gale, Patty Kaufmann, Lola Vincent, Donna Kohler, Vince and Nancy DiGirolamo, Patricia Helbig, Cynthia Knight, Ed and June Carter, Dr. Scott Weiner and his wife, Margaret.
Tom Strauss, president and chief executive of Summa Health Systems, thanked everyone for their support and introduced Dr. Steve Schmidt, recently named chief operating officer of Summa Health Foundation. Schmidt gave a brief history of the activities of the Women’s Board since its founding in 1958. Schmidt said proceeds from the event will benefit the programs and services at Summa St. Thomas Hospital.