A last-minute surge in ticket sales caused organizers of the Runway to Hope Spring Fashion Soiree to redesign the gala’s layout and menu. The event, held Saturday night at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, was originally planned with food stations and seating in rows of chairs surrounding the runway. Two weeks before the event, organizers realized they were going to exceed their goal of 1,000 attendees, in part due to an increase in sponsorship sales.
“We were at about 900 people, but we had a lot of verbal commitments, so we knew what was coming in,” said Tara Fontana, owner of Grapevine Events & Marketing, the company that produced the gala. “We looked at our floor plan and realized it was going to be very hard for a lot of people to see with runway-style seating.”
So Fontana switched the event to a seated dinner at round tables, with 123 tables to accommodate the more than 1,200 guests, 50 percent more than attended last year’s inaugural event. In addition to a plated menu, the new design required additional decor elements: Fontana created centerpieces by dropping orchids in tall glass cylinders and Swag Decor provided draping for the ballroom.
A fashion show with 68 pediatric cancer patients as models was the focus of the fund-raiser. The children, some as young as two years old, paraded down the 64-foot runway in the middle of the ballroom, accompanied by local celebrities, athletes, and community leaders. TV personality Mario Lopez and Miss USA Alyssa Campanella hosted the show. Runway to Hope is a nonprofit created by Orlando attorney Mark NeJame and his wife Josie to fund pediatric cancer research, treatment, and support services at Arnold Palmer Hospital and Florida Hospital.
Last year’s Spring Fashion Soiree raised $400,000. Organizers are still totaling proceeds from this year’s event.
