Hanging Up The Daintiest Bonnet
It is with a profoundly grateful and proud heart that I want to share the fact The Daintiest Filly on the Turf Charity Ball will be the last auction The Baker Street Babes with be holding for the foreseeable future.
When I first conceived of the Ball and started planning it with Kristina, I knew we wanted to make an event like no other during BSI Weekend, and there were a few aspects of that which were enormously important to us. First, as we all truly believe, All Holmes Is Good Holmes, and that there need be no criteria whatsoever to feel welcome with us, whether team Cumberbatch or Gillette, Sherlock Hound or Sherlock in the 22nd Century, first-time cosplayer or seasoned Sherlockian chronologist.
We’ve seen people come from all over the world, all walks of Sherlockiana, and been insanely proud of the spirit of pure joy and conviviality and friendship that every Ball has enjoyed. Do you like the Thing? Fantastic. So do we. Please let’s enjoy it together.
Next, we wanted to benefit people other than Sherlockians. People who gave their service selflessly and now need our help, and it’s been mind-blowing to watch the contents of people’s closets and their volunteer talents with arts and crafts turn into over $37,000 for wounded soldiers. There hasn’t been a Ball where I haven’t cried at some some point.
This year will be no exception. That’s because of each and every one of you who have dusted off volumes, reached onto shelves, put paint to paper, and honored the spirit of the Good Doctor with your time and your support. And that’s also because of each and every one of you who have opened your hearts and wallets and bid on auction lots.
This is the aspect of the celebration that has become more and more impossible over the years. The BSI Weekend will always, always be in January (thanks, Chris Morley). That means that packages will always be arriving throughout December, the most incredibly stressful time of year for me, and take physically hours of time and muscle to wrangle.
It falls to me because this is my baby, I’m a NY local, and I have a basement–but there is simply no easy way to go about it, and no way that I can conceivably lessen the strain, the huge financial obligation involved with renting a Manhattan club space, and the stress of organizing our incredible team of BSI Weekend volunteers. I am staggered that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s signed basketball is downstairs, and it has all been worth it, about a million times over.
Every year I try to start working on the Ball as early as September, and every year it gets more daunting. That’s because all of you have made it such an incredible success, and successful ventures are time consuming. My fellow Babes and I deliberated, and they pointed out that I’ve been in some capacity or other hosting BSI Weekend events for a decade now.
They said it’s time for me to enjoy my friends. And I cried enough at reading that, I knew it was true. My book launches on Tuesday, Wednesday I prep all day, Thursday is the Ball, and Friday I’m on a train to start a national book tour. I’m so overwhelmed with how blessed I am. None of these are bad things. They are amazing, just like all of you.
This year’s Ball will be incredible. I can’t wait to see you, but we aren’t sold out yet, and I couldn’t in good conscience take something away when there’s still the opportunity for you to be a part of something truly magical. Here is the link to ticket sales, which end on Tuesday. Please consider joining us, thank you all for your incredible love and support, and the Babes will be back with more feminist Sherlockian schemes in the new year.
You’ve not seen the last of us! Not by far.
Click Here to visit the Brown Paper Tickets event page.
Lyndsay Faye is the author of several novels, has been translated into 13 languages, but remains in love with English. You can find out more about them at lyndsayfaye.com & poke her on twitter @LyndsayFaye.
BSB Lyndsay, ASH “The Fascinating Daughter of a California Millionaire,” BSI “Kitty Winter.”
This will be, alas, the tenth consecutive year when we haven’t been able to attend the festivities in New York. Naturally, we regret our enforced absence from any of the Baker Street Babes’ “Daintiest” charity balls, but that’s far outweighed by our delight at knowing that our favourite Girl Group* has organised and run these jollifications with such wonderful results. Thank you, dear Babes, and thank you especially, Lyndsay!
Roger Johnson, BSI, ASH
Jean Upton, ASH, BSI
(*The ASH, of course, remains a firm favourite and an important part of our lives, but despite the laudable retention of the full feminine title it no longer qualifies as a Girl Group. Obviously. RJ)