This past Saturday, hundreds of New York City’s most fabulous descended into Harlem proper for an event that was fun and exciting but most all benefited a wonderful location organization.
On Saturday, March 3rd, the award-winning boutique Harlem Haberdashery welcomed nearly 300 glamorous guests from fashion, media, non-profit and other professional circles to celebrate their 5th Annual Masquerade Ball – “A Royal Ball in Harlem” at The Riverside Church of New York City. The South Hall was illuminated in royal purple that happily coincided with their presenting sponsor Crown Royal.
The evening benefited #TakeCareofHarlem and honored three special individuals: Bevy Smith (unable to attend due to covering the Oscar’s for Page Six TV sent a beautiful thank you speech;) Margarette Purvis (Food Bank for New York City) and Michael J. Garner (100 Black Men) accepted their awards and shared touching speeches about “What Harlem Means to Me?”.
The awards presentation was presented Radio 103.9 FM Roxie Digital, Sharene Wood (President & CEO , 5001 FLAVORS and Harlem Haberdashery) and Kells Barnett (Founder, #TakeCareofHarlem). Crown Royal surprised Kells with a generous donation of $5,000 to support the organization’s 2018-19 programming.

Guests enjoyed tasty treats by Harlem community restaurant partners: Doc’s Cake Shop, Eyrnn Henderson, Harlem Shake, LoLo’s Seafood Shack and Row House as well as drinks Papi Wines and all soft drinks donated by FreshDirect. Rakiem Walker Project and DJ Olivia Dope provided fun-filled live entertainment all evening.
The room itself was lit up with some incredibly gorgeous colors that made the overall space sing that much better. The food also tasted phenomenal (we’ve had Harlem Shake before so we knew what was up) and the music (both live and DJ’d) was off the hook as well.
The evening was presented by 5001 FLAVORS, Harlem Haberdashery and sponsored by Crown Royal, New York Post/Page Six TV, Radio 103.9fm with community partners: Fresh Direct, NiLu, Doc’s Cake Shop, Eyrnn Henderson, Harlem Shake, LoLo’s Seafood Shack, Papi Wines and Row House.

For more information on Harlem Haberdashery, click here. For more information on #TakeCareOfHarlem, click here.