Catalyst for Conservation Gala · For Our Guests

You’re coming. Here’s what’s ahead.

Your seat is reserved. This is where we will keep you up to date between now and October 17 — lot reveals, the evening’s run of show, the menu, and the small things that make a night effortless.

The Live Auction The Evening
Saturday, October 17 Reception 6:30 PM · Concludes 9:30 PM Rhinory · Fredericksburg
Saturday, October 17, 2026

This evening.

  • Arrival & welcome reception

    A welcome glass of wine at the door. The Main Tasting Room and Club Rhino, transformed into a gallery of Mital Patel’s wildlife photography — each image with its species, its place, and one line on what is at stake. Passed appetizers throughout. The silent auction opens.

  • To the table

    Your MC and auctioneer, Trey Garrett, calls the room to dinner. Wine service continues as you are seated.

  • Dinner service & the program begins

    A welcome from Craig and Chesney, and a report from the field on exactly where your generosity went in 2025 — partner by partner.

  • The Catalyst for Conservation Award

    Presented by Craig and Chesney to the inaugural honoree, Mital Patel.

  • The live auction

    Trey Garrett takes the floor. Every winning bid travels directly back to the landscape that inspired it.

  • A closing word, and checkout

    A last thank-you from Craig and Chesney. Checkout opens for auction winners; Mital will be near his photographs for conversation.

Times after 7:45 are approximate and will firm up as the night gets closer.

Good to Know

The practical bits.

Arrival & parking

Rhinory, 13112 E US-290, Fredericksburg, TX 78624. Doors at 6:30 PM; you will be greeted at the entry with a glass of wine. The evening is held in the Main Tasting Room and Club Rhino. On-site parking; rideshare drop-off at the main entrance.

Attire

Hill Country chic — cocktail attire with sensible shoes for the grounds.

Your ticket

Your PDF ticket from Givebutter is scanned at the door. Show it on your phone; no need to print.

The silent auction

Opens at reception, 6:30 PM, alongside the Mital Patel gallery exhibition. Bid from your phone with your bidder number; it runs through the evening.

Bidding from the floor

Your bidder number works both ways — raise it in the room or bid from your phone. Winning bids are charged to the card on file at close.

The Northern Lights voyage

The one lot bid online rather than in the room. It closes at 5:00 PM Central on October 17 — before doors — and the result is announced during the evening. If you want it, bid before you leave for Fredericksburg. Open the item.

Checkout & winning something large

Checkout opens at 9:30 PM; winning bids are charged to the card on file and you will get clear, simple instructions on the spot. Art and physical lots can be collected that night or shipped. Experience lots come with a certificate and a contact to book directly with the partner.

Phones

Silent during the program, please — but keep them handy. You will bid from them.

Crave Catering

Your table, course by course.

Here is exactly what you will be eating, and what will be in the glass beside it.

Plated gala dinner — grilled and smoked beef medallions with charred broccolini and heirloom carrots
Wine-Paired Dinner · Crave Catering

Every course, chosen for the wine beside it.

Passed hors d’oeuvres circle the gallery from the moment you arrive. Then a seated, plated dinner from Crave Catering — Hill Country ingredients, cooked with intent — and Rhinory in every glass: Wijde Sparkling Wine, 2024 Sauvignon Blanc and 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Passed Appetizers

  • Roasted Beetroot Tartare
    Feta · Dill · Balsamic Pearls · Housemade Kettle Chip
  • Quail Knot
    Cracked Pepper Ranch
  • Ahi Tuna Tartare
    Wonton · Tobiko · Sriracha Aioli · Black & Wasabi Sesame · Micro Cilantro

Plated Dinner · Choose One

  • Beef · Grilled & Smoked Beef Medallions
    Smoked Peach & Corn Succotash · Red Wine Demi-Glace · Smashed & Fried Creamer Potatoes with Pecorino & Fresh Herbs
  • Fish · Petit Salmon Filets
    Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce · Creamy Spinach Risotto · Garlic Chips
  • Vegetarian · Gluten-Free Eggplant Parmesan Stack
    Puttanesca Sauce
  • Served with every plate
    Charred Broccolini & Heirloom Carrots · Herb Gremolata · Olive Oil

Dietary needs? You select your preference when you buy your ticket, and we take care of it quietly from there.

The aurora borealis over Alpefjord, Greenland Photo · Adrian Wlodarczyk
Bid Before You Arrive

The one lot that closes before doors.

Aurora Expeditions has donated a Captain’s Suite for two aboard the Douglas Mawson — eleven days from Reykjavík into Scoresby Sund and East Greenland, 8–18 September 2027. Valued at around $30,000.

It is the only lot bid online, and bidding closes at 5:00 PM Central on October 17, ninety minutes before you walk in. The result is announced during the evening. If you want it, place your bid before you leave for Fredericksburg.

Bid on the VoyageFull Itinerary
The Live Auction

Extraordinary experiences, exclusive to Gala guests.

Ten lots, one night. Every lot was chosen because it cannot be bought anywhere else, and every winning bid goes directly to the partner named beside it. Bidding is in the room, for Gala ticket holders.

A long table set for a wine lunch in the South African Cape

Lot 1 · International Rhino Foundation

Rhinory’s Curated South Africa Wine & Culinary Experience

South Africa, unlocked by someone who holds the keys. Eight days through the Cape for two, built on friendships Rhinory has spent years cultivating, then two more bespoke days with our wine director as your private guide. Departs April 16–23 or April 27–May 4, 2027. Includes six full days of winery visits, rare vintages and curated dinners, nine nights’ lodging, private Cape Town airport transfers, all itinerary transportation, and daily meals and tastings. Airfare, personal purchases and anything outside the itinerary are not included.

Guests on a game drive watch a white rhino graze at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya

Lot 3 · Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Ol Pejeta Conservancy: A Two-Camp Safari for Conservation

Last year, this room named a rhino. This is how it happens again. Six nights for two across two camps: three at Asilia’s Bush Camp, three at Porini Rhino Camp. A watering-hole photography hide at Porini, naming rights for a black rhino, rhino tracking in the wild with an expert ranger, time with the northern white rhinos, and an introduction to the K9 anti-poaching unit. Valid for travel November 1 to December 19, 2026; January 6 to March 24, 2027; April 1 to May 30, 2027; and November 1 to December 15, 2027, subject to availability.

A rhino calf at the Care for Wild orphanage in South Africa

Lot 4 · Care for Wild

Care for Wild: A Rhino Conservation Experience

The largest rhino orphanage in the world does not sell tickets. This is an invitation. Three days for up to six guests at Rhino View Lodge, Care for Wild’s solar-powered lodge, with guided access to rescue, rehabilitation and rewilding operations and time alongside the animal care teams. Airfare and travel transfers are not included. Mutually agreeable dates.

Liora, the black rhino calf named at last year’s gala, at Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Lot 6 · Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Liora: A Signed Fine Art Print by Mital Patel

Last year, this room named a rhino. This year, the artist went to find her. A signed fine art print of Liora, the black rhino calf named at last year’s gala, photographed at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in July 2026 and signed by Mital Patel, our 2026 Catalyst for Conservation honoree.

Also in the Live Auction

Lot 2 · International Rhino Foundation

Longneck Manor: The Ultimate Fredericksburg Wildlife Staycation

Minutes from where you are sitting, a giraffe will lean down and take a treat from your hand. Two nights in the Okapi Villa or Twiga Villa, giraffe encounters, an encounter with the resident rhinos, time with Bruno the sloth, dinner at Hill & Vine, and the Rhino Reserve “Drawn to Protect” collector’s set. Some holiday blackout dates apply. Dates mutually agreed.

Lot 5 · International Rhino Foundation

San Antonio Conservation Getaway: The Zoo and SeaWorld

Two San Antonio institutions, one weekend, and access neither one sells over the counter. Dinner for two on the giraffe deck at San Antonio Zoo, an overnight stay for two at Spekboom Lodge inside the grounds, and Ultimate VIP Tours for two at SeaWorld San Antonio. Mutually agreeable dates.

Lot 7 · Care for Wild

Cheetah Experience: Two Weeks in South Africa

This is not a viewing platform. It is two weeks of your life, spent differently. Two guests live on the farm at Bela-Bela, Limpopo, in a private chalet with all meals included, working alongside the animal care team with cheetahs, leopards, servals, caracals, African wildcats, lions, wolves and meerkats. Airport transfers from Johannesburg can be arranged. International airfare and activities outside Cheetah Experience are not included.

Lot 8 · International Rhino Foundation

The Gala Group Painting, Framed by Wanda

One canvas. One room. One night. An original canvas created live during the gala, contributed to by the guests in the room and professionally framed by Wanda Goldberg. One of one, unrepeatable by definition.

Lot 9 · International Rhino Foundation

The Ultimate Texas Wine Experience

There are four seats at this table, and no amount of money will buy a fifth. An after-hours private wine dinner at Rhinory for up to four guests, hosted personally by Craig Stevens and Chesney Castleberry, poured alongside a library vintage from Dr. Bob’s private cellar at Bending Branch. Mutually agreeable date and time.

Lot 10 · Ol Pejeta Conservancy

States of Nature

A press plate exists to make an image, and is then, almost always, destroyed. This one survived. The first copy of States of Nature off the press, the original press plate for the page carrying the last two northern white rhinos, and press sheets pulled from the same run, every piece signed by Mital Patel.

And More on the Night

The 2026 gala is sold out. Thank you to everyone joining us. You can still bid on the Northern Lights voyage online, or fund a need on the ground from anywhere.

Support From AfarBid on the Online Auction
Mital Patel
At Reception · 6:30 PM

The Mital Patel gallery exhibition.

Before you sit down, walk the room. Our 2026 Catalyst for Conservation honoree has photographed the last two northern white rhinos on earth, and this July returned to Ol Pejeta Conservancy to find Liora — the calf this community named at last year’s gala. Her portrait is Lot Six.

Arrive early. The silent auction opens at the same time, auction lot preview cards sit beside the photographs they belong to, and the best conversations of the night tend to happen in front of these prints.

Award presented following dinner
Updates

What’s new.

The latest from the Foundation as the night approaches. Newest first.

  • The menu is set.

    Crave Catering confirmed, and every course is now published above — a wine-paired, plated dinner with a choice of beef, salmon or vegetarian, and Rhinory wines poured throughout. Dietary needs by October 15.

  • The Northern Lights voyage goes to online bidding.

    Aurora Expeditions has donated an eleven-day Arctic expedition for two. It is bid online and closes at 5:00 PM on October 17 — bid before you leave for Fredericksburg.

  • Bidding will be in-person only.

    Both the silent and live auctions are held in the room on October 17. A seat is the only way to raise a paddle.

  • Lot Three is now a two-camp safari.

    Ol Pejeta Conservancy has expanded the package: six nights across Asilia Bush Camp and Porini Rhino Camp, and naming rights for a black rhino you will then track in the wild.

  • Two Ol Pejeta Conservancy pieces move to the silent auction.

    The original bronze and the portrait of Baraka will be bid on at the silent tables rather than from the floor.

  • Mital Patel photographs Liora.

    Our honoree returned to Ol Pejeta Conservancy to find the calf this room named last October. That image is Lot Six.

The 2026 Catalyst Circle

With gratitude.

A catalyst doesn’t start the reaction. It makes it impossible to stop. This night exists because these families and businesses put their names behind the rhinos.

Platinum

Empire Roofing
Donald & Denise (Pride)Elliott
Matt & Alexis (Elliott)Stabler

Gold

San Antonio Zoo
Longneck Manor

Bronze

Christian & JulieStout
Dr. Dustin & Bobby (Covington)Reid

With Special Thanks

Swiss Chocolate Shoppe — guest gift
Maggie Gillespie Designs — centerpieces
Share the Night

Know someone who would want to be part of it?

The room is full, but anyone, anywhere can still bid on the Northern Lights voyage or fund a need on the ground. Send them this page.

Support From Afar The Northern Lights Voyage
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