| EVENT REPORT 10.29.07 10:53 AM |
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| Crystal Ball |
| Hundreds of spheres decorated the tents at Rumsey Playfield for the Central Park Conservancy's annual Halloween ball. |
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Dressed as movie characters, fruits, mythical beings, and in other festive attire, 550 guests convened at Rumsey Playfield for the Central Park Conservancy's 12th annual Halloween ball on Wednesday night. Held under tents, this year's ball was kookier and slightly more colorful than last year's black-and-white, Edward Gorey-inspired evening. This time, hundreds of spherical objects dominated the look from event designer Frank Alexander Salaris of Frank Alexander NYC. The event was overseen by the conservancy's newly installed director of events, Lauren Mazer.
In his interpretation of evening's theme (dubbed "visions"), Salaris festooned the tents with various shimmery materials—tinsel-like curtains covering the walls of the entrance hall, iridescent threads forming a reflective centerpiece for the cocktail tent's bar—and added eerie blue-tinted projections of Central Park photographs, mirrors, a holographic floor covering for the dance floor, and some novelty items to complete the look. Shrouded in mist from smoke machines and accented with blue and pink colors, the main dining tent was filled with spheres of all shapes and sizes, from the 250 weather balloons crowding the ceiling and the chandelier made from 5,000 Ping-Pong balls to the plasma lamps that sat in the center of the tabletops. |
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The roomy and relatively less decor-heavy cocktail area allowed guests to move around, check their coats, line up for photographs (Studio 4B took pictures of guests for entry into the costume contest), and have their fortunes told by tarot-card readers. Phillip Bloch, the Food Network's Sandra Lee, and the event's chairs, Suzanne and Bob Cochran, judged the contest, which awarded winners prizes from Bulgari, the St. Regis hotel, Tumi, and Krug Champagne.
Sonnier & Castle's dinner menu included a first course of pumpkin velouté with roasted marshmallow and miniature cinnamon croutons, a main course of braised beef short rib in a red wine reduction with German potatoes, flat-leaf spinach, roasted shallots, crispy onions, and a Jerusalem artichoke sauce, and a dulce de leche and feuilletine gâteau with dark chocolate and amaretto for dessert.
In total, the ball raised $900,000. —Anna Sekula
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RELATED TOPICS
Central Park Conservancy,
Bulgari,
Tumi,
Krug Champagne
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