As it pertains to charities that do their part to wipe cancer off the map, there's a new color in town, one whose electric hues painted Hotel ZaZa as a chipper covey of 600 rushed to take part in a summery social Friday night.
Prostate cancer's new archrival is the Blue Cure Foundation, an undertaking of founder Gabe Canales, who was diagnosed with the illness at the young age of 35. This former marketing and PR professional is on a mission to spread intel about prevention. His party sidekicks? Socialite Carolyn Farb, KHOU anchor Lily Jang and Houston Texans center Chris Myers, who summoned teammates J.J. Watt, Duane Brown, Owen Daniels, Garrett Graham and Brian Cushing to walk the blue carpet in this dude-centric soiree.
Add the Texans Cheerleaders posing for photos ops . . . and it's eye candy for everyone at the Blue Cure Benefit Party!
Pepping up the lounge-esque ambiance in Monarch Bistro and on the patio were tunes courtesy of Lewis Grell and Don Vaughn. That's until all the attention went to the live auction, which enticed with custom silver accessories from Valobra Jewelry, a Blue Cure T-shirt signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and a luxury package at Hotel ZaZa Dallas — Ferrari car rental included.
Yet the hot item of the evening was a Houston Texans Game Day Package for four that earned a winning bid of $5,200. A pledge from Myers to serve as a personal host plus a signed football roused a competitive edge between the contenders, who had to raise oversized glow sticks to tender their offers.
What's a night owl to do than dance the night away?
Keeping the throng well fed was a generous flow of hors d'oeuvres crafted by chef Jonathan Jones perfect for a sultry affair. In demand were trays of summer melon and tomato ceviche, green tea cured salmon, and dark chocolate acai mousse tarts.
In the crowd alongside KHOU personalities Katherine Whaley, Chita Johnson, Ron Trevino and account executive Karli Gillum were Taekwondo Olympic gold medalist Steven Lopez, Crystin Pactor, Ashley Wehrly, Kim Padgett, Deborah Elias, Romy Mitchell and Tod Eason, Zachary Greenbaum, Jesse Pedraza, Megan Cushing, Peter Brown and May Qi.
Cerón with Houston Texans cheerleaders Brianna, from left, Caitlyn, Ceron, Maria and Amelia at Party for a Cure.
