What You Might Have Missed from the 2019 Summer Benefit Season

On September 14, guests gathered for the annual Wolf Trap Ball to celebrate the end of the organization’s summer season, raising $1.73 million in support of the arts and education programs of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Held at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Northern Virginia near Washington, the design of this year’s event, which was hosted in partnership with the Embassy of Singapore and in cooperation with the National Park Service, was inspired by the culture of Singapore.

Wolf Trap collaborated with the Silver Linings Design Group to create an impressive 650-piece lantern focal point, neon streetscapes, and a replica of Singapore’s iconic cloud forest. Lush greenery and colorful florals were created by Blue Vanda Designs.

Design Cuisine blended Chinese, Indian, and Malay influences to create a menu for the seated dinner that featured grilled shrimp, a crab tower, and sambal-crusted black cod, along with Pandan mango mousse cake for dessert (pictured).

Each place setting included Wolf Trap-branded chopsticks accompanied by ornate dinnerware.

In July, the Women’s Board of Lincoln Park Zoo hosted its annual Zoo Ball. This year’s gala, “A Feathered Affair,” honored the Chilean flamingo and raised $980,000 to benefit the Chicago zoo. Inspired by the pink-feathered bird, the event featured tropical decor by Northern Decor and flamingos perched on the tables.

Illuminated pink tents served as lounge areas for guests.

On September 16, Make-A-Wish Southern Florida and donor InterContinental Miami started the celebration early with a V.I.P. kickoff party for the 25th annual InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball that will take place November 2. At the event, Steven Tyler with the Loving Mary band were announced as the ball’s headliners and Flo Rida will perform at the after-party. The cocktail soiree featured food stations by InterContinental Miami’s executive chef Jhonnatan Contreras, decorated in a medieval style as a nod to this year’s gala theme, Masterpiece XXV, which is an interpretation of Game of Thrones. An ice sculpture of wolves adorned the sushi bar.

The dessert “cave” was guarded by an elaborately carved chocolate dragon.

In July, at the Tanglewood Music Center in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra celebrated its season with its annual gala in the center’s new Linde Center for Music and Learning. Following cocktail hour, guests enjoyed a three-course dinner throughout various spaces in the new center.

For this year’s San Francisco Symphony gala, which kicked off its 108th season on September 4, Blueprint Studios designed and produced a cocktail reception, four simultaneous dinners, a V.I.P. lounge, and a concert and after-party, all held in various venues. The Patrons Pavilion featured custom-fabricated fringe chandeliers, weighing 12,000 pounds, highlighted by more than 3,000 cascading gold pendants. See more: What It Took to Produce the San Francisco Symphony's Biggest Gala Yet

Blueprint's in-house floral studio designed elevated magenta and violet floral centerpieces. See more: What It Took to Produce the San Francisco Symphony's Biggest Gala Yet

At Seth Rogen’s Hilarity for Charity fund-raiser on September 14, one attendee reportedly paid $1,000 to soak the host in a dunk tank. Rogen and his wife, Lauren Miller Rogen, hosted an adults-only carnival at Row DTLA for this year's Alzheimer’s research benefit.

At this year’s Watermill Center Summer Benefit, which was held in July in Water Mill, New York, and raised $1.7 million, guests nibbled on passed hors d'oeuvres, which were presented on beachy trays and inspired by Hamptons motifs such as “meadow.” Allium blossom, fennel, and wheat fronds adorned a tray of fried baby artichokes, quail eggs, Parmesan shards, honey apricots, and semolina croustades. The event was catered by Bite Food. See more: How One Hamptons Institution Reset Its Summer Benefit

Once again, the benefit included interactive art installations as guest entertainment. Hung between trees near a circle of stone monoliths, "Mirror Box" by Megan May Daalder invited pairs of guests to place their heads in a headset that gave the sensation of sharing one face. See more: How One Hamptons Institution Reset Its Summer Benefit

The 11th annual Artists for Peace and Justice (A.P.J.) Festival Gala, a major annual event during TIFF, took place September 7 at the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto. The event raised more than $1.1 million to support education in Haiti.