A "SupernovaTini," made with Pop Rocks around its rim, was the specialty cocktail at the Adler Planetarium's Celestial Ball on the night of September 10. The astronomy museum's biggest annual gala drew 545 guests, grossed $940,000, and had a rather unusual decorative theme.
Gala chair Amanda Bonnell wanted the event to have the feel of "the palace on Versailles on Mars"—"because of my love for France, of course," she said. The planning team tapped Jeffrey Foster of Event Creative to bring the regal vision to life.
In the reception area, where guests sipped their candy-filled concoctions and danced after dinner, Foster topped tables with elaborately carved candlesticks and surrounded projection screens with golden frames. Dinner tables, set up on two levels, got candlesticks and candelabra strung with crystals. Foster referred to the mossy green floral arrangements as "alien-looking and otherworldly."
The event gave guests an opportunity to check out the museum's newly revamped spaces. Some sat to dinner amid the undulating, glowing spandex walls of the new Welcome Lobby. In the Gainger Sky Theater, a sample of a new show that involves 22 projectors played during part of dinner. When the show stopped playing, Foster cast amber projections of scrolling damask patterns throughout the space.
