Aldridge Gardens offers dinner, auctions under the stars June 9

If auctions and an outdoor white tablecloth dinner in a public garden are your idea of a nice night, the Hydrangeas Under the Stars event at Aldridge Gardens may be for you.

The annual event is one of Aldridge’s biggest fundraisers of the year and this year is scheduled for Saturday, June 9, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The night begins with a reception and silent auction under the pavilion, and then guests move to the tent for dinner and a live auction at 7:30 p.m. Dinner is provided by the Jefferson State Community College Culinary and Hospitality Institute, said Aldridge CEO Tynette Lynch.

Auction items this year include: a seven-day trip to Pensacola Beach; five nights in Cancun, Mexico; four nights in Bermuda; and three nights in Pebble Beach, California. Airfare is included with each of those trips.

Other auction items include artwork, a basketful of restaurant gift cards, and tickets to Alabama and Auburn football games, the SEC Baseball Tournament, Regions Tradition golf tournament and Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. There also will be hotel packages to the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, Hyatt Regency Birmingham – The Wynfrey Hotel, Hampton Inn & Suites Birmingham Downtown – The Tutwiler, The Westin Birmingham and Sheraton Birmingham.

Aldridge Gardens board President James Mathews Jr. will serve as master of ceremonies, and Hoover Councilman John Lyda is scheduled as the auctioneer.

Last year’s event raised about $62,000 for the gardens, Lynch said.

Tickets cost $250 and are limited. The tent will hold 26 tables with eight people per table, so only 208 tickets will be sold, Lynch said. To buy tickets, go to aldridgegardens.com.

Hydrangeas Under the Stars

WHEN: June 9, 6-9 p.m.

WHERE: Aldridge Gardens, 3530 Lorna Road

TICKETS: $250

WEB: aldridgegardens.com