Event Coverage

The Merchandise Mart lobby   Photo: Chris Gullen

More than 500 guests filed into the Merchandise Mart on Saturday night for the Bearcat Ball, a fund-raiser for the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). Now in its tenth year, the ball takes place annually in the Mart's north and south lobbies and features casino games, tasting stations from local restaurants, a silent auction, an award presentation, and a live band.

Event co-chairs Johanna Croll, Inga Stenta, and Margie Stineman lead a team of 35 volunteers in the event's yearlong planning process. According to Bridget Vrba, who works in the philanthropy department of RIC and assisted with planning efforts, the committee's greatest challenge was creating a sense of "one big party" at an event that includes disparate elements and takes place in two separate rooms.

Patriotic decor at the Salute to the Troops gala Photo: Harvey S. Tillis

"I only know two jokes, and I'm going to tell them both tonight," deadpanned M.C. Bill Murray at Saturday night's Salute to the Troops Gala, a fund-raiser for the U.S.O. of Illinois. "In addition to the promised knee-slappers, Murray entertained the 930 guests assembled in Navy Pier's Grand Ballroom by leading soldiers of the Illinois Army National Guard in an a cappella rendition of "Do Wah Ditty" and, during the evening's live auction, scooting around dinner tables on a bike in an effort to raise bids for a "West Coast Ride" package.

Actor Gary Sinise also appeared at the benefit, helping to present the Angel Harvey Heart of a Patriot award to Fox Sports Network anchor Leeann Tweeden. After dinner, the CSI:NY star switched gears to play bass with his Lt. Dan Band during a two-hour set of cover tunes that included "Sweet Home Alabama."

The emergency preparedness event at Paramount  Photo: Pedja Radenkovi/Brightroom Event Photography

Last week—just ahead of the destructive fires that burned a swath through the region—BizBash gathered Los Angeles planners for a panel on  emergency preparedness at events. Pivotal Events produced and sponsored the program, and BostonCoach and Cvent sponsored along with the event's host, Paramount. Among the panelists were Boston Coach senior vice president of events Catherine Chaulet; Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center chief of emergency medicine Marshall T. Morgan; Paramount fire chief and executive director of fire and emergency services Robert Lucchesi; and the Orange County Sheriff assistant commanding officer of field operations Michael Hillmann. Here are some of their top tips for being ready for anything.

1. Know the risks you own.
If an anonymous caller makes a bomb threat concerning the auditorium where your event is about to start, it's on the planner—not the police—to decide whether to proceed. "It's your risk," said Hillmann. "You—the planner—decide whether to evacuate." If you've invested in enough security ahead of time to scan for things like unattended packages, you'll be more prepared to make the choice.

Dog statues atop illuminated pillars Photo: BizBash

Sparkly tutus and miniature top hats aren't the typical guest trappings at a black-tie gala, but they were par for the course at Saturday's Fur Ball. The fund-raiser for Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS) took place at the Drake and drew more than 600 guests, many with gussied-up dogs in tow.

Tickets to the event went for $400 a pop; the invite also requested a "$100 per pooch" reservation fee. And since the pets were technically paying customers, PAWS special events manager Jessica Busch said she and her team focused on creating an evening that would cater equally to its two- and four-legged attendees.

Ringside for Mercy's Sake  Photo: BizBash

On Saturday night, Ringside for Mercy's Sake, a black-tie fund-raiser for the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, drew approximately 1,200 guests to the Chicago Marriott Downtown. The majority of those guests were associated with a local or national financial exchange, and if the benefit suggested anything about its audience, it's that traders get a rush out of a good competition.

Each year, financial exchanges support the Mercy Home by purchasing tables and putting forth employees to serve in the evening's main entertainment: amateur boxing. This year's benefit saw fighters from nine companies, including CME Group, Citadel Trading, and NYSE Euronext, take each other on during three-minute bouts held in a temporary ring set up inside the hotel's grand ballroom.

Kara Mann Designs' Table  Photo: Barry Brecheisen for BizBash

Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design event featured the latest tabletop trends in a series of dining environments that showcased the work of interior and fashion designers, artists, architects, and sponsors. Now in its eleventh year, the event—which also serves as a fund-raiser for AIDS care and education—kicked off an eight-city tour at the end of March.

After stops in markets such as New York and Los Angeles, the benefit took up residence in Chicago's Merchandise Mart last Thursday through Saturday. A series of events geared at showcasing the designers' work to a local audience included an opening night cocktail party on Thursday, a public viewing on Friday, a Saturday tasting called "Table Hop and Taste" with stations from local restaurants, and a gala dinner on Saturday night.

The Adler Planetarium's Celestial Ball  Photo: Bob Carl

Saturday night's Celestial Ball, a fund-raiser for the Adler Planetarium, drew some 420 guests for an evening of dinner, dancing, and live and silent auctions. Due to the current financial climate, the crowd was smaller than it has been in past years—the event typically draws about 600 attendees. "But financially, we found that people were willing to give at a bigger level than before," said Audra Young, the planetarium's manager of auxiliary support.

To help attract sponsors, Young and her team worked with event consultants at PJH and Associates Inc. "It was hard to call people and ask for money right after the stock market dropped 800 points," Young said. "But [PJH and Associates] helped us strategize and keep on pushing—which is what you have to do in this economy. The money is there. It's just about asking the right people at the right time."

Rockefeller Plaza on election night Photo: Alison Whittington for BizBash

The morning after the election, media outlets across the country (including our own domestic bureaus) took a census of the countless political celebrations from last night. Here's a look:

• As thousands lined up for Obama's rally in Grant Park—where most watched his speech on a JumboTron—local caterer Limelight served mini BLTs to 3,000 guests in the tents for media, campaign officials, and donors. [BizBashChicago]
• While NBC and Fox News wooed New Yorkers to festivities outside their headquarters, Slate and washingtonpost.com served advertisers food from Obama- and McCain-inspired food stations at opposite sides of their party. [BizBashNY]
• The California Democratic Party's bash filled every available space at the Century City Hyatt. More than 17,000 people RSVPed online; 7,000 is the capacity for the hotel's public spaces. [BizBashLA]
• In Washington the Hyatt served—surprise!—an all-American menu for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Qorvis Communications set up photo ops with wax figures of Obama and George W. Bush in its offices. [BizBashDC]
• The Chicago Tribune reported that Obama's Grant Park crowds dissipated quickly with "no reported problems." [ChicagoTrib]
• CNN brought back its convention season “CNN Grill” to New York’s Time Warner Center for a celebrity-filled party and venue for political bloggers. [Variety]

The Sci Fi network's cocktail reception Photo: BizBash

At the Sci Fi network's dinner for 50 media buyers at XChange West on Tuesday, traditional small talk went by the wayside as one guest wondered aloud, "Where's my fork? I'm just gonna eat with my hands," and others bellowed "Marco" or "Polo."

The event used Opaque Restaurant's dining-in-the- dark concept, which plays out just how it sounds: Guests sit down to dinner in a pitch-black room, with the idea that temporarily losing sight will awaken their other senses. Opaque staffed the soiree with blind servers, who helped guide guests through each course with frequent tableside announcements and measures such as touching guests' shoulders and having them hold out their hands to receive the plate for each course. 

Paymon Parsia, an account manager with experiential marketing agency Cunning Communications, Inc., worked with Sci Fi vice president of strategic marketing Shari Weisenberg and director of strategic marketing Kim Volonakis to plan the event, which also featured a pre-dinner cocktail reception. "Commerical buyers get taken out for dinner all the time," Parsia said. "So our goal was to entertain them in a way that was memorable and unique."  

The Griffin Court dining area in the modern wing

Chicago’s art and design communities have been eyeing the progress of the new Renzo Piano-designed modern wing at the Art Institute of Chicago since plans for the project came to light in 2005. On Saturday night, some 450 guests attended the first event to be held in the structure, which is still under construction and won’t open to the public for another six months. Dubbed the "Modern Ball in the Modern Wing," the event raised $200,000 for the Education and Acquisition Fund of the Architecture and Design Society of the Art Institute.

The unfinished state of the building presented a unique set of challenges for the ball's planners. From adhering to strict electrical codes to consulting with the fire department to determine capacities for the areas of the building that were ready to use, co-chairs Karen Hyatt, Carrie Lannon, and Victoria Lautman worked closely with Art Institute personnel and Turner Construction to monitor the constantly changing state of the venue. “We all had to be good sports,” said Lannon. “It was a very integrated process, because one change could mean that many other changes would have to take place accordingly.” For instance, because the new wood floors in the wing have yet to be sealed (and spills could spell disaster), the night featured an all-clear drink menu of white wine, gin, vodka, and white Cosmopolitans.