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If we were to say that 380 beautiful people gathered at Jim and Pam Crowe’s Cherry Hills home for a dinner of grilled salmon and lobster Napoleon it might sound snooty and give readers the wrong impression.

So let’s be clear that we’re talking not about some la-ti-da group of perfectly coiffed women and their trophy husbands.

The beauty of those at Sunset in the Country is that they are willing, even eager, to open their hearts and their pocketbooks on behalf of Anchor Center for Blind Children.

Those to whom a week’s stay at Whistler Mountain might not have appealed were quick to flash their bid numbers when auctioneer Gary Corbett asked for cash donations of varying amounts. Someone who might not have wanted to fly anywhere on Frontier was definitely interested in being one of the 20 who’d hike up Chief Mountain with blind climber Eric Weihenmayer on Sept. 25.

Photo 1: Peggy Talbot, left, Cheryl Dutton and Sue Lingle. Photo 2: Colorado first lady Frances Owens, left, and Sunset in the Country chairwoman Ann Benson. Photo 3: Julie Mork, left, Kathy Schmidt and Diane Hooper. Photo 4: From left: Barb Gschwendtner, Wendy Clayton, Denise Murray and Jo Randolph were happy to lend their support to the event that will help build a new and larger home for Anchor Center for Blind Children. Photo 5: Jane Davis, left, and Susan Sheridan. Photo 6: Hostess Pam Crowe, left, with her guests Tara and Sterling Crowe and Penny Halpin. Photo 7: Brad and Lexy Pfeifley, left, visit with George Webb before sitting down to a family-style dinner from Footers Catering. Photo 8: June Davis and Frank Martorella. Photo 9: Tony and Jean Steel, left, with Michelle, Erica and Ron Weiszmann.

And when caterer Jimmy Lambatos reprised one of the most popular items from last year – a catered dinner, either a sit-down affair for 25 or a buffet for 50, that includes everything from invitations to libations, six guests wanted it so badly that Lambatos said if all six were willing to pay $6,000 each, his Footers Catering would accommodate them all.

Proceeds from Sunset in the Country will go to Anchor’s $5.5 million capital campaign for construction of a new school in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood.

The new facility will include a sensory garden, specialized gym and playground, and textures, lighting and acoustics that are teaching tools in themselves and will make Anchor a national model for how blind and visually impaired children learn.

Ron and Linda Branish (she’s a past president of the Anchor Center board) are the campaign’s honorary chairmen and noted that $4.2 million has already been raised. They also said that groundbreaking is to take place next spring, with construction to be completed in about a year.

Since it was founded in 1982 by a librarian from Colorado Library for the Blind and local alumnae of Delta Gamma fraternity for women, Anchor has operated out of leased space on the former Clayton College campus.

Curriculum includes Braille instruction, self-help activities such as dressing, table manners and cane training.

Former Anchor parent Karen Roberts was the evening’s speaker and said that in the almost five years her family were involved with Anchor, “We went from shattered dreams to great hope and possibility.” The Roberts’ son, Benjamin, graduated from Anchor Center in 2003 and now attends public school.

Ann Benson chaired Sunset in the Country. Table hostesses were recruited by Susan Sheridan and Jane Davis, while Barb

Gschwendtner and Pat Moran coordinated the live and silent auctions.

The guests also included Kaye and Mike Hurtt, at whose home the benefit was held when it was a luncheon called Day in the Country; Miriam and Mason Whitney; Kathy Schmidt; Jean and Dr. Ben Galloway; Scott and Kathy Manley; Anne and Bill Knorr; Craig Ewing; Jan Cortez; Paulette and Robert Brody; Anne Hackstock; Patty McConaty with her daughter, Molly; Judy Fahrenkrog; Chris and Norm Smith; Nancy and Gordon Nelson; Julie and John Moore; Lynda and Bob Dalton; Ruby and Matt Lynett; Linda Chowdry; and Karen and Randy Woods.

Some lucky ducks are going to have some cute little houses to call home, thanks to the creative types who entered Denver Botanic Gardens’ 2005 BirdHaus Bash.

Photo 1: Claire Huff, 7, digs into some of the food that delighted guests at the annual Denver Botanic Gardens BirdHaus Bash. Photo 1: Michelle DeSloge and Mark Booren take a closer look at one of the hand-crafted entries. Photo 2: Piper Negaard, 5, and her sister, Maire, 6, stand before “Subirdine,” a submarine-shaped bird shelter that they built for the BirdHaus Bash. Photo 3: Sylvie Abecassis admires one of the entries. Photo 4: Michelle Turpen won Best of Show for “Gordopolis,” the birdhouse she made from various-shaped gords. Photo 5: Lorrie Grillo, left, Don Larrance, Bob Webb and Jamie Nicholson served on the BirdHaus Bash committee. Photo 6: Ericka Batla, left, Jen Schiavone and Katie Wilson. Photo 7: Bruce Meyer made the house that was judged Most Functional.

OK, maybe Gordopolis, the Best of Show winner that Michelle Turpen made from gourds of assorted sizes, won’t accommodate a duck, but it’ll do just fine for the starlings, robins and other fine feathered friends found in backyards throughout the metro area.

Don Larrance, Jamie Nicholson, Bob Webb and Lorrie Grillo chaired the fundraiser that included bluegrass music by Oakhurst and a walkabout supper with ribs, green chile tacos, sausage and peppers, wine and beer from Gaetano’s, Cherry Cricket, Wazee Supper Club, Appaloosa Grill and Wynkoop Brewing Co.

7News anchor Mike Landess won the prize for Best Celebrity Birdhouse, competing against such other notables as the Neville Brothers, Jewel and players from the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Mammoth.

Hunter Negaard’s Sunflower Showers was named Best Children’s Birdhouse; his sisters Piper and Maire were inspired by submarines for their entry, Subirdine.

Among those checking out the creative entries: attorney Michael Smith; Denver Center for the Performing Arts staffer Jen Schiavone, who designed a birdhouse with Ericka Batla and Katie Wilson; Jane Yant; Michelle DeSloge and Mark Booren; Sylvie Abecassis; Marilyn Weber; Geri and Gordon Baron; Leah Wicks; Lindsey Miller; and Bruce Meyer, whose creation was judged Most Functional Birdhouse.

Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.

More online: View additional pictures from the BirdHaus Bash and Sunset in the Country. denverpost.com.