PALM BEACH, Fla. — It is the tourist season in Palm Beach and with that comes black-tie events and galas. It's a way for nonprofits to fundraise in a big way with big doors.
Traditionally, Mar-a-Lago has been home to many of these occasions.
All of this now comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump's controversial dinner with Nick Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Now, some are questioning whether planned events will go on, including the Salvation Army of Palm Beach County's Paradise Ball, slated for next Saturday at Trump's estate.
It's a site that organizers said was picked for the centennial gala to coincide with Marjorie Merriweather Post's purchase of the property in 1922, the same year the Salvation Army in Palm Beach came to fruition.
"So, we said, 'You know what, let's have it there,'" Frank Marangos, the director of development and communications for the Salvation Army of Palm Beach County. "So it had nothing to do with politics. We are an apolitical organization. We are not doing it for any other purpose other than to raise the funds to continue serving the underprivileged for another century."
Marangos said 500 tickets have been sold and they expect to hit the 600-person capacity.
"We scheduled to have this about a year ago at Mar-a-Lago," he said. "We chose it for a variety of reasons, one of which was financial. It was the best price that we received from all the other venues in the area."
WPTV was told there is no discussion about a new location.
"Obviously we were aware of it," Marangos said. "We were aware of it. We are not going to change the venue at this point for something somebody does. As I said, we are apolitical."
Marangos said Trump has not been invited to the event, and they haven't spoken to him.
During the tourist season on the island, organizations will have to choose from venues to host big events, but the choice is not always simple.
"A lot of Palm Beachers don't want to leave the island for events," WPTV political analyst Brian Crowley said. "I think for those charities that are finding that they do their best raising money on Palm Beach by going into The Breakers or Mar-a-Lago, some of them may have little choice. Ultimately they need money to keep their organization going."
Crowley said it comes down to venue size.
"Some years ago, after the Charlottesville episode, a lot of the charities and organizations decided they were not going to go back to Mar-a-Lago," he said. "A lot of them have still boycotted Mar-a-Lago. A few like Salvation Army have decided to go and use Mar-a-Lago's resources."
He said nonprofits will have a choice to make.
"I think going forward, now especially that Donald Trump has announced he's running for president again, a lot of charitable organizations are going to have to decide whether or not they want to be caught up with what is always a whirlwind with Donald Trump and Mar-a-Lago," Crowley said.
