To complement its presence at the All Candy Expo, Ferrara Pan hosted an after-party for some 1,000 confectionery buyers and business associates, treating them to live music and fireworks.
On Tuesday night, following the opening of the All Candy Expo, confectioner Ferrara Pan hosted a cocktail reception, buffet dinner, and fireworks show for more than 1,000 buyers and business associates at Fulton's on the River. For the sixth consecutive year, company president Sal Ferrara tapped Andrea Hall, owner of Your Event Network, to produce the happening—which, Hall said, "was about total fun. We just wanted to make customers happy."
To create that good-time vibe, Hall's first order of business was to book the Gentlemen of Leisure. "In my opinion, entertainment is everything," she said. "People just love to rock. So it's always best to book that early so that you get the act you really, really want to have." (In fact, Hall has already started scouting out bands for next year's event.) On Tuesday, the 16-piece band stood on the top deck of a riverboat docked outside Fulton's on the River, and guests brought candy-flavored martinis out to the restaurant's waterside patio to listen to upbeat tunes such as Beyonce's "Single Ladies."
Candy-colored fabrics surrounded light fixtures, and food stations included a raw bar. Photo: Rick Aguilar
Fabric columns added pops of color to the lower level of Fulton's on the River. Photo: Rick Aguilar
Guests lined the balcony of the restaurant to watch the Gentlemen of Leisure perform songs such as "I Want You Back" from the top deck of a river boat. Photo: Rick Aguilar
At 9:30 p.m., a barge stationed in the river set off 30 minutes of fireworks. Photo: Rick Aguilar
At bars decorated with clear beakers, servers shook up Lemonhead- and Applehead-flavored martinis. Photo: Rick Aguilar
Highboys on the riverside patio wore linens in the party's signature bright hues. Photo: Rick Aguilar
A grape-themed installation, complete with a model in a fruit-filled tub, accented the wine bar. Photo: Rick Aguilar
Guests brought their cocktails to the patio to watch the fireworks show. Photo: Rick Aguilar
At the end of the evening, a barge pulled into the river and set off a 30-minute fireworks display—a spectacle that came with its fair share of logistical red tape. "[Putting on a fireworks show] is not an easy thing to do," Hall said. "You have to get a permit from the alderman, you have to get a permit from the city, you have to get the coast guard, fire department, and police department involved."
Along with getting permission from the right organizations, Hall had to arrange for special vertical fireworks that would work in the tight area in which the show took place. Although the spectacle managed to stop some traffic on Tuesday night, beeping horns seemed to be the o side effect. (Perhaps it was Midwestern politesse that allowed for the relatively peaceful traffic jam: "They could never pull this off in New York," one guest said on the street on Tuesday night. "People wouldn't have it.")
Because the evening was hosted by a confectionery company, and held after the expo, Hall steered clear of bringing actual candy into the event. "All of our customers and vendors have been at the show all day, and we want them to come [to the after-party] and forget about work," she said. But she did want to "subliminally" link the event to Ferrara Pan's latest product, Tropical Chewy Lemonheads. Working with designers from Daniel's Discriminating Floriculture, Hall decked Fulton's lower level in fabrics that reflected island hues of orange, yellow, and green; she also brought in palm trees, a costumed mermaid who reclined on the sushi station, and a Lemonhead-shaped ice sculpture. And at the event's entrance, a character dressed as a Lemonhead sported a tropical shirt and greeted guests.
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