On April 25, 700 guests headed to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal for a rainbow-hued benefit for Greater Boston Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The evening started with a cocktail reception offering tasting stations from 15 local chefs and went on to include dinner, a dance performance, and a speaking program that showcased honorees Mitchell Adams and Kevin Smith and included words from Ellen DeGeneres's mother, Betty DeGeneres.
The celebration raised more than $400,000 for the nonprofit's bullying prevention, family support, and education programs, and saw more guests and more dollars than its previous iteration: only 480 supporters attended in 2011, and this year's take was 30 percent higher than last year's.
The increased attendance was thanks, in part, to more square footage on hand. "Last year's venue had a max capacity of 480 guests," said event manager Liz Page, owner of Liz Page Associates. This year, "It was important to us to identify a unique event space that would not limit our capacity to sell tickets and sponsorships. Black Falcon Cruise Terminal has a capacity of 700, and wouldn't you know it, we sold out."
While the venue took care of one challenge, it raised a few—rather daunting—others. "The [terminal] is a federally regulated port, and ship arrivals and departures always take precedence over events that are scheduled at the terminal," Page said. At the time of booking, there were no ships scheduled to be in port on April 25. Then, two months out, planners learned that a ship would arrive on April 24 and was not scheduled to leave until noon of event day. When ships are in port, no event setup can take place in the terminal unless every five staffers on setup duty are escorted by one Port Police officer.
And there was one more issue: "We were also warned that [in case of] mechanical difficulty, passenger emergency, or several other possible scenarios that may have prevented the ship from leaving port, we would have to cancel our event," Page said. "Cancellation was not an option, so we created a contingency plan to move the event to a different location if necessary."
Planners developed a detailed communication plan to get in touch with guests, speakers, vendors, and the 15 participating chefs in case of a venue change. They also designed a load-in schedule that had them holding furniture rentals, linens, china, and other items until the ship had definitively sailed or stayed in port.
Finally, at noon on Wednesday, planners received official confirmation that the ship was leaving and the event could go on as scheduled. "Ninety-nine percent of our guests, sponsors, and celebrity chefs were unaware of 'Plan B' and the potential venue change," Page said.
But for those who were aware, final setup felt like a giant sigh of relief. "It's always exciting to arrive at event site and watch that first truck pull up and begin to load in, [and it was] especially [so] for this event, when we didn't know what site we would be loading into," said Danielle Gollenberg, associate producer at Liz Page Associates.
Planners were also excited to watch support pour in for a heart-tugging cause. "Raising a record-breaking amount of money to bring the anti-bullying and family support programs of Greater Boston PFLAG into high schools and middle schools across the state, you realize that you are so lucky to be a part of something bigger than yourself," Gollenberg said.
