Sip & Shop Greenwich Returns November 5 — Shop 40+ Vendors and Fund Cancer Research

Some events go on my calendar the moment I hear about them, and Sip & Shop Greenwich is one of them. It's one afternoon and evening where you can knock out half your gift list, run into everyone you know, and know your money is going somewhere that matters.

Sip & Shop Greenwich takes place Thursday, November 5, from 12pm to 9pm at Innis Arden Golf Club, 120 Tomac Avenue in Old Greenwich. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. Just leave the jeans at home, since denim is not permitted. Drinks are available at a cash bar.

Bring gold and silver jewelry, flatware, or anything else made of precious metal, and condition doesn't matter.

This year's hours run longer than in years past, so it's easy to fit in whether you go midday or after dinner.

More than 40 vendors have signed on, a mix of returning favorites and new names. Expect jewelry, accessories, clothing, home décor, handmade woodwork, beauty and treats. A few to look for: A Domani, Anchored Homestead, CIRCOLO, Roadie Couture, Sabina Furst Designs, Simply Chickie, Sixteen Decor by Jody Deluca Designs, Songbird Woodcraft, Sunshine Daisy, Sweet Daydreams Bake Shop's Cookie Cart, Therese Custom Designs, Two B's Accessories, Upstate Aura, Virginskin Beauty, WearTrace, and Wonnaful. The full vendor list is on the event's Eventbrite page.

This is the part I'd plan around. Liberty Gold will be on site all day buying precious metals. Bring gold and silver jewelry, flatware, or anything else made of precious metal, and condition doesn't matter. Pieces are bought by weight, you're paid by check on the spot, and 70% of the proceeds go to Swim Across America Fairfield County. The tangled necklaces and lone earrings in your drawer can fund research and your holiday shopping.

Net proceeds benefit Swim Across America Fairfield County, which supports the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT). ACGT is based here in Fairfield County and is the only foundation in the country focused solely on cancer gene therapy research. The local Swim Across America chapter has given ACGT more than $7.5 million, and every dollar it sends goes straight to research.

Swim Across America itself has Connecticut roots. Darien resident Matt Vossler started it in 1987 with his college roommate, Jeff Keith. The Fairfield County chapter has held an open water swim in Long Island Sound since 2007, every June, on the Old Greenwich and Stamford line.

Sip & Shop is the work of Nancy Carr and Roseann Sarica Benedict, who have organized it together for more than a decade. Nancy is Swim Across America Fairfield County's event director and a personal stylist who hand-picks the vendors, always looking for makers you haven't seen elsewhere. Roseann is a lifelong Greenwich resident and top real estate agent whose local connections help bring it all together.