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Yacht's delay is kink in gala

By MARY JANE PARK
Published June 18, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Time for Plan B.

The Grand Luxe, the SeaFair fine-art yacht, has delayed its initial voyage to St. Petersburg and Tampa, and organizers have made other plans for a January event to benefit the Museum of Fine Arts.

It will be called "An Evening in Florence - A Royal Gala" and will celebrate the opening of "Natura Morta: Still-Life Painting and the Medici Collections." The exhibition will include work from the renowned Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

"Of course, we were devastated about losing our big gala," Stuart Society president Betty Jean Miller said. However, having ample notice meant that planners were able to move the date to the opening weekend of the Medici exhibit.

Now scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 20, the black-tie event will take place in the museum and in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club.

A shortage of steel and construction workers led SeaFair owners David and Lee Ann Lester to postpone their trip to the Tampa Bay area. The Grand Luxe is being built at Nichols Bros. Boat Builders near Seattle.

Initially, the craft was to be the site of the annual Stuart Society gala, then sail across the bay to host Pavilion, the yearly benefit for the Tampa Museum of Art.

For information, call 866-0925.

[Last modified June 18, 2006, 07:39:38]