Aids Group's Fund-Raiser Proves To Be Unique

Stately homes and raising money were a natural combination the past few days. It began with a spectacular Northwest AIDS Foundation fund-raising progressive dinner, of sorts, with cocktails at the home of Marlys and Ralph Palumbo and then moving, via horse-drawn carriages through the Highlands, to David and Sally Maryatt's home for dinner and dancing to Stan Keen.

The unique event Friday night, choreographed by interior designer Steve Glueck, was one in a series of AIDS foundation benefit dinners similar to those once hosted by Pacific Northwest Ballet supporters.

Glueck and foundation board member Renee Behnke, who came up with the concept, emphasized variety.

The dinners, many over the weekend, ranged from a vegetarian brunch for 12 at the home of Patterson Sims and Katy Homans; a dinner for six by Wolfgang Puck ("Adventures in the Kitchen") at the Sorrento Hotel; a dinner at Roberta Sherman's home, co-hosted with Amanda Lyon; or dinner for six at the home of Speight Jenkins.

Invitations to the 16 dinners went to AIDS foundation supporters. And the ones at the Palumbo-Maryatt event were a diverse crowd, from social worker Jody Foster or Boeing systems analyst Anne Leah Beardsley to some of the regulars on the fund-raising circuit.

Each guest paid $100 or $150, with all the proceeds going to the foundation. The hosts bear the cost of the entertainment and meals.

Upcoming on the list of parties is a New Year's Day dinner as Peter Donnelly's guest at the home of "The Frugal Gourmet," Jeff Smith; a roast lamb dinner at Janet Ketcham's home Thursday; an Italian dinner at Don Foster's; and a dinner at Carl and Renee Behnke's Kirkland home, Friday.

For those unaccustomed to the quiet elegance of the Highlands, the Maryatt-Palumbo dinner was a wonderful glimpse of two spectacular homes, the Palumbos' built about 1965 by Roland Terry.

Palumbo even broke out some of the wine he and two other Highlands residents have been making.

He said that little winemaking venture required amending the Highlands' residential bylaws, written during Prohibition.

SHOWHOUSE

Betty Tisdale's historic Queen Anne Hill mansion was the site of a preview party for the designer show house to benefit Variety, the Children's Charity, Friday night.

In keeping with her reputation for helping children, Tisdale - a mother of 10 and well-known founder of a Vietnam orphanage - turned the mansion over to interior designers. They moved in loaned furniture and incorporated it with some of Tisdale's fine Vietnamese pieces.

They papered walls and transformed a comfortable residence into a spectacular home, donating all their labor.

And what a house it is - three stories, sun room, butler's pantry, a nursery out of a fairy tale, a cozy kitchen, and throughout, uniform jewel-tone colors, originating from a painting over a downstairs fireplace.

The house is open daily until Dec. 15. For more information, call 286-2248.

EMPEROR'S BIRTHDAY

Just east on Highland Drive from Tisdale's, at the Tudor mansion of Japan's Consul General Shinsuke Hirai, about 200 gathered Thursday, for a celebration of the birthday of Japan's Emperor Akihito.

In Japan, the emperor's birthday is a national holiday. The Seattle celebration attracted bankers, state trade officials, members of the World Affairs Council, the Consular Corps and politicians - then and now.

There was mutual toasting, Hirai to President Bush's good health, and state Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard to the emperor's, and also recognition of the emperor's new status as grandfather.

His son, Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko, on Oct. 23 had a royal daughter.

For Seattle citizens honored by the Japanese, it was a time for bringing out the ribbons and medals. Former Mayor Gordon Clinton wore his Third Class Order of the Rising Sun, the highest award of a nonmilitary kind for his work in establishing a sister-city program. And Sheileaes Dunn, a member of the Seattle International Hospitality Committee, wore the medal given to her club.

But for the most part, guests came out of respect for Hirai, a warm but quiet, and always gracious, member of the corps.