A round of applause, please. No, make that a 21-gun salute. No, a Fourth of July-style firework display. For what? The amazingly generous crowd of enthusiastic paddle-wavers and passionate benefactors at last weekend’s Naples Winter Wine Festival.
They helped raise a staggering $33 million—in just four hours of bidding—for underserved and at-risk children in Collier County. This record sum helped push the tally brought in since the festival’s inception in 2001, to over $302 million.
Me? I was there as a guest of my friends at Rolls-Royce, who donated a brand-new, all-electric Spectre for the auction. The sticker price of this custom model in stunning two-tone Arctic White with contrasting Tempest Grey? A non-trivial $559,200.
Going once, going twice, sold for $1.4 million. The lucky new owner? Naples resident, tech entrepreneur, and passionate Ferrari enthusiast, Onur Haytac. This was his first Rolls-Royce.
“The Spectre is one of the most incredible machines in the world and it really is an honor to be able to now call one my own. But the real honor here is contributing to help the kids,” said Onur.