By Georgia Vavas

Greek food and music were found plentiful the evening before Halloween at the Walters Art Museum, where the Committee and almost 200 friends celebrated the new blockbuster exhibition, “Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece”.

Guests arrived in festive masks and costumes to celebrate the Greek theme and blended in well with the décor of the Museum. The Hazelwood Inn catered a sumptuous assortment of Greek mezzedes and delicacies while guests were entertained by the fabulous Greek-American band “Apollonia”. Live and silent auctions made available a variety of gifts, trips, art, clothing, specialty goods and wines to bidders.

Among the notables attending were US Congressman John Sarbanes and Aris Melissaratos, former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and currently Senior Advisor to the President of the Johns Hopkins University. Melissaratos served as the Honorary Chairman of the “Aegean Evening III” along with the Director of the Walters Art Museum, Dr. Gary Vikan, who is a Byzantine scholar.

Proceeds of “Aegean Evening III” will benefit the good works of the Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee and the Friends of the Ancient Collection at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

The Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee is a volunteer program under the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs. Baltimore’s ten Sister City Committees are operated in cooperation with Sister Cities International, an organization that was created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower after World War II to promote good will, economic development, cultural understanding and respect among U.S. and international cities around the world. The Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee was founded over 25 years ago to encourage exchanges and understanding between the port cities of Piraeus, Greece and Baltimore, Maryland.

Congratulations once again to the Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee for their hard work and leadership in making this memorable event a big success.