HE Environmental Defense dinner dance was held at Fred's at Barney's on Madison Avenue in New York where over 300 fashionable conservationists raised $50,000 to help restore and protect the southern coastline and waterways.

The host committee included Somers Farkas, Ann Colley, Frederick Anderson, Zack Bacon and Heather Henriksen. Many native North Carolinians came up to support the cause including Bill Bateman, David Snider, Parker Bell, Will Henderson, Parker and Elizabeth Johnson, Kasey Gore, Georgia Hanford, Jennifer Marsico and Penn Holderness.

E.D. president Fred Krupp and major gifts officer Beth Sturkey were also among the crowd.

The event took off with the 12-piece band Saint James Syndrome belting out top 40 hits. This delighted Charles Anderson, Oliver Carter, Ted Crawford, Jon Dixon, Penn Holderness, Claiborne Hancock, Kendall Scully, Robbie Shaw and Elizabeth Wicker, all members of the junior committee.

E.D. director Jane Preyer told us why we were there: "North Carolina is the most important fishery in the country. Their waters are the nursery habitat for all the fish we love to eat including flounder, grouper and snapper and there is a real threat.

"Environmental Defense is making progress in its mission to protect the environmental rights of all people, including the right to clean air, clean water, healthy food and flourishing ecosystems."