Kathy Melvin, Business Integrated

                                                                      Communications   502.609.9813

River Fields Hosts “Dancing By the River” September 10

Sallie Bingham will be honored as 2010 Land Hero

Louisville, KY (August 18, 2010) — The public is invited to join River Fields on Friday, September 10 for its annual fundraiser, “Dancing by the River.”  River Fields is a 50-year-old land and river conservation/preservation organization.

Noted regional preservationist Sallie Bingham has been named the recipient of River Fields’ 2010 Land Hero Award for her immeasurable contributions to land conservation in the Ohio River watershed. In 1999, Bingham demonstrated her dedication to conservation and preservation by executing a conservation easement on the ecologically important Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm, a 412-acre property she owns in eastern Jefferson County. She was one of the earliest landowners in the region to preserve forever significant acreage through an easement. Each year, she graciously opens Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm and invites River Fields to lead public tours on the property. Photos of these tours and more information about the farm, including a 13-minute video of Bingham speaking about why she preserved it, can be found online at www.riverfields.org/WolfPenBranchMillFarm.htm.

Beyond her role as a regional conservation and preservation leader, Bingham is an accomplished author, playwright, and poet. She published her first novel, After Such Knowledge, in 1963, and has since written over a dozen other published books, including short story collections, novels, and a memoir. Her plays have been produced in New York, Texas, and Kentucky and her poetry has appeared in major national magazines and collections. She is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including the O. Henry Award and Best American Short Stories. In 1989, she founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, an organization which supports women in the arts. Kentucky Foundation for Women operates Hopscotch House, a retreat center, on six acres of Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm.

“Dancing By The River” attendees will dine and dance in an elegant, tented field in the heart of Metro Louisville’s only state-designated Scenic Corridor, at the corner of River Road and Lime Kiln Lane, directly across from Goose Creek. 

River Fields has more than 2,100 members who live in 104 zip codes.  Funds raised at “Dancing by the River” will support River Fields’ work to protect, preserve and enhance the natural, historical and cultural resources in the Ohio River Corridor between Westport and West Point, Kentucky, on both sides of the river.

The party begins with hors d’oeuvres at 7 p.m., followed by a buffet dinner catered by Stevens and Stevens at 8 p.m.  Dessert by “Desserts by Helen” and dancing begins at 9 p.m. The Robert Nickerson Band will provide music until midnight.

The event’s premiere corporate sponsor is the long-time supporter Brown-Forman Corporation, a remarkably generous corporate citizen of Louisville. Additional corporate sponsors are Stites & Harbison LLC, Platinum Sponsor, and Boone Gardiner Garden Center and Commonwealth Bank & Trust, Silver Sponsors.  River Fields is grateful for their generous support and conservation leadership.

 “Dancing by the River” is co-chaired by Inez Segell and Hope and Matthew Boone Gardiner, owners of Boone Gardiner Garden Center, also a corporate sponsor of the event. The members of the “Dancing by the River” committee are Lisa Barr, Lucie Blodgett, Janice Blythe, Marea Clark, Lee T. Cory, Fay Dorval, Louise Gardner, Arnita Gadson, Cindy Kohorst, Mary Celeste Lerman, Mary Celeste Lerman, Debbie Linnig Michals, Sarah Michals, Melody Raidy, Jane Ramsey, Bea Rosenberg, Amelia B. Runyon, Jane M. Townsend, Ann C. Wells and Meredith L. Williams.

Tickets for the buffet dinner, dancing and dessert are $200 per person; dancing and dessert only, beginning at 9:00 p.m., are $75 per person. For information, contact River Fields at (502) 583-3060 or at melodyraidy@riverfields.org. Tickets may be purchased through the River Fields website at www.riverfields.org. Reservations close September 7.

# # #

River Fields is the largest and oldest river conservancy along the 981-mile Ohio River.  For over 50 years, River Fields has utilized its resources to effectively protect, preserve and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the land and water around the Ohio River in our region. Through its programs of land conservation, advocacy and education, River Fields strives to create harmony between nature, history and the people who live here.  River Fields owns land or holds conservation easements on 34 properties, totaling more than 2,200 acres, most of which is preserved forever. River Fields is one of the nation's few land trusts tackling regional advocacy work and land conservation. 

River Fields Board of Trustees

Kenneth Moore, Chairman

Lee T. Cory, President

Paul J. Bickel III, Owsley Brown II, Stephen P. Campbell, Marea Clark, Arnita Gadson, Matthew Boone Gardiner, Elizabeth Dodd Lococo, Hunter G. Louis, Debbie Linnig Michals, Edwin H. Perry, Dr. Hiram C. Polk, Jr., Bea Rosenberg, Inez Segell, Jane M. Townsend, Ann Wells