Belly dancers and shrimp cocktails and more

Wednesday night's Chamber networker at Coconut Grove Gallery & Interiors was one of the best. A couple of hundred people came out to the Bird Road side of the Grove to enjoy belly dancing provided by the ladies of Belly2Abs, the wellness studio a Bird Road neighbor among so many other great things. There's always a party at Sheila Kuhl's gallery.


What was nice about this event was that most of the businesses on Bird Avenue provided prizes and goodies as part of the mixer. As we stood at one area of the gallery chatting, we could actually see ballet classes going on across the street at the ballet studio and people came and went from new Happy Wine tapas and wine bar across the street, as well. It's kind of an intimate area where the businesses all seem to thrive on each other. Above left are Andres Lemos, realtor and Cameron Sisser, PR director of Lighthouse for the Blind. At right are Bryan Hughes and William Rey.


Juan Carlos, wine buyer for Happy Wine, provided all the wine for the evening, which went well with the catering. The gallery is so big -- the wine was at one end and the food at the other, this was to keep the flow moving, I was told, which was a great idea.


It was nice to see so many familiar faces out for the evening. From left, Anthony Poppe, Katie Smith, Lilia Garcia, Tom Falco.


As always, Coconut Grove Gallery & Interiors puts out quite a spread. They always go first class. Everyone was impressed with all the home furnishings they have in their huge space. I saw a red chair I especially like. Prizes for the raffle were provided by the gallery, Happy Wine, Flanagan's and Frankey Locksmith to name a few. We have lots more pictures of the event here.

Photos by Ari Romer