Crystal Ball
Hundreds of spheres decorated the tents at Rumsey Playfield for the Central Park Conservancy's annual Halloween ball.
October 29, 2007
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.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.
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.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.
The dining tent's dizzying decor.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Illuminated globes—glo balls from Taylor Creative—sat in groups outside the tents, lighting the way to the entrance.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Washed in eerie blue lighting, the hallway leading to the cocktail area was covered with toy spiders and cobweblike wisps of cotton wool.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
A giant inflatable spider hung overhead at the end of the hallway.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Tarot-card readers sat behind translucent screens on one side of the cocktail area.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Toy eyeballs and LED ice cubes floated in large glass bowls that adorned the cocktail tables.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Frank Alexander turned the passageway between the cocktail and dining areas into a hall of mirrors.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Hazy with mist, the main dining room had an almost wintry look to it, with trees draped with strands of beads, a Ping-Pong ball chandelier, and 250 weather balloons, onto which blue-tinted photographs of Central Park were projected, creating a ghostly effect.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
The design for the tabletops was minimal but colorful, with plasma lamps in the center.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
As a tie-in to the location and the event's purpose, one of the hors d'oeuvres from Sonnier & Castle was served on a bed of wheatgrass.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
Costumed guests provided more decor as they lined up for photos on one side of the cocktail tent.
Photo: Francine Daveta for BizBash
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![Staffing outfits also tied into the theme. 'Taking our cue from [Sawaya], we looked at fashion that pulled inspiration from Dutch painter Piet Mondrian,' explained the museum's Christina Sion. 'We worked with Artists Creating Entertainment to create costumes for a dozen performers mirroring the Mondrian Collection, designed by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1965—but with a cheeky, creative twist. These human LEGO 'mini-figures' provided key guest engagement roles at the event, as well as fun photo ops throughout the cocktail party.'](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2020/04/SY200307_DiscoveryBall_Roaming_0002__1_.5ea366a3b1c62.png?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=525&w=630)
