This year’s Azalea Garden Party & Silent Auction for The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society had south-of-the-border flare. The fund-raising event fell on May 5 — Cinco de Mayo, a celebration of Mexican heritage. The day featured lively mariachi music and Mexican-influenced cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

The Franklin Awards are bestowed annually in Philadelphia, and laureates join a group of elite leaders and visionaries in science and technology.  This years honorees included Bill Gates and other defining men and women of our time.

Thorncroft Therapeutic Riding Center’s 25th annual fundraiser netted $150,000 to ‘keep the barn doors open.’  Proper Philadelphia Society Photographer Joan Bang contributes photographs from the fun-filled celebration atop the Bellevue.

The Young Friends of the Charity Ball held their first ever art show and sale, titled ArtMarch, at the beautifully renovated carriage house of architect Frederic L. Bissinger and his wife Nancy Drexel Bissinger.  Artwork included came from past Ball participants or ‘extended family’ of the Charity Ball, and sales will benefit the Ball’s 2010 beneficiary, Gesu School.

The Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art hosted another fabulously well-attended event last Saturday.  The annual Winter Gala was entitled Midnight Masquerade, and gave Young Friends and guests the opportunity to exercise their artistic senses from toe to head, literally.

Curtis Institute and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra held their annual Season Premier Gala to benefit the Student Assistance Fund, with a lovely preconcert cocktail & dinner party held at the Bellevue followed by a performance at the Kimmel Center.

The Pennsylvania Ballet held its annual Opening Night Gala at the Ballroom at the Bellevue.  The evening began with a performance at the Academy of Music; George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations and Matthew Neenan’s new work, At the Border, were met with delight.  Guests reconvened for cocktails, dinner, and dancing at the Bellevue.

The Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art hold an annual Fall Garden Party at the Rodin Museum on the Parkway.  This year, due to the myriad of (some controversial) construction projects on the Parkway, specifically the revamping of the Rodin Museum, the party was relocated to the Perelman Wing of the Museum.

Glass Now is an annual event that features one of the largest auctions held for fine glass art. More than 500 collectors, artists and friends from across the country and beyond attend this lively event to support the National Liberty Museum’s work teaching young people to reject violence and hate.

If you thought you would never see a Jimmy Buffet-themed party at a classic Colonial Revival manse in one of Haverford’s most historic Quaker neighborhoods, you were wrong.  Some people have the nerve to throw parties that are just, well…fun.