| EVENT REPORT 05.31.06 12:00 AM |
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| Wildlife Gala Has Out West Feel |
| The Central Park Zoo took on a Western look for the Wildlife Conservation Society's annual fund-raiser. |
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| You could call it an aftereffect of Brokeback Mountain, but there was a legitimate reason why the Wildlife Conservation Society's gala at the Central Park Zoo featured cowboys and Western imagery. The organization—which administers the Bronx Zoo, as well as the Central Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium, among others—used the occasion to celebrate the American Bison Society's centennial anniversary; the two groups helped save the North American bison from extinction. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | | The Wildlife Conservation Society's fund-raiser honored the American Bison Society, and had centerpieces that took on a Western look. |
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 | | Custom-screened lampshades featured cowboys on horseback in silhouette. |
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 | | Guests passed a rustic-looking "WCS Preserve" sign that mimicked authentic metal and wood ranch signage. |
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 | | Members of the band Knuckle Dusters provided Western-style entertainment. |
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 | | During the cocktail reception, animal handlers from the society brought a frogmouth bird to interact with guests. |
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With the event overseen by the WCS's chief of staff, Gail Sheldon, and director of corporate relations and special events, Dale Brooks, Grayson Bakula Design was brought on to handle decor and give the event some Western flair. A half-moon-shaped ranch-style sign was placed near the entryway to the benefit and featured a cutout silhouette of a bison and the words "WCS Preserve." (The sign had the look of rustic metal and wood signage but was actually made of laminated foam panels.)
Instead of a regular tablecloth, dining surfaces were covered with authentic saddle blankets and the centerpieces—there were two different designs—were also evocative of cowboy country. Some tables had low groupings of sunflowers in copper vessels, while others had dramatic sculptures of sandblasted manzanita branches that sheltered miniature elements of the Western landscape—succulents nestled in mounds of little pebbles—underneath. Pitched upward, the branches looked much like the wild, licking flames of a campfire. Designer Carolyn Bakula also made sure that the light treatment in the tent had a little bit of the West, and suspended cute customized lampshades screened with silhouettes of cowboys on horseback.
—Mark Mavrigian
Posted 05.31.06
Photos: Liza Young
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