The eighth annual Cattle Barons' ball rustled up 600 boot-clad guests to benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS) of Greater Tampa at Tampa Port Authority Cruise Terminal 3 on Channelside. Inspired by the fictional Oil Barons' ball that J. R. Ewing attended on Dallas, the event originated in Texas in 1974, and then spread throughout the Southeast. For the 2005 event in Tampa, an executive committee headed by ACS ambassador Gloria Giunta and volunteer chairwoman Brenda Orcutt selected the title "Giving Cancer the Boot." Guests—including honorary chairman and chairwoman Sam and Terri Ellison—were encouraged to wear Stetson hats, denim, turquoise, sequins, fringe, and cowboy boots.
Jeannette Nunez of Grand Events of Florida arranged split-rail fences, bleached cow skulls, colorful sarapes, saddles, and bales of hay in tableaux throughout the terminal. Tequila and specialty cocktails were served at rope-fringed watering holes with names like Rosita's Cantina and Dewar's 12 Saloon. Guests sat at tables topped with black linen, turquoise napkins, and centerpieces of tall cacti planted in terra-cotta pots.
In the lobby outside the terminal, participants exchanged cash donations for wooden nickels used to pay for games. Six nickels bought a chance to pitch rings at wine bottles in the "wine corral" toss or to rope a motorized calf while riding a metal horse in the calf roping game. For four nickels, guests could play a "human slot machine" operated by three ACS volunteers who quickly alternated stuffed pigs, rubber chickens, and cows in the slot windows. Guests donating $1,000 in real money received a toy stick horse to decorate and enter in a horse race, in a bid for a bottle of signature logo wine, underwritten by Fishman Mortgage Corporation and the Fishman Families. For more traditional cowboy games including roulette, craps, blackjack, and Texas Hold'em, American Convention Entertainment Services set up gaming tables run by professional dealers.
The Cactus Creek Band performed western songs while the crowd milled around a buffet, provided by Rita Carlino's Catering, laden with pepper-crusted smoked tenderloin; pork loin with a sour cherry barbecue sauce; jalapeño and roasted cornbread brie; and quesadillas filled with smoked duck and goat cheese, smoked salmon with cream cheese, or brie and crab with spring onions. Sweets included cowboy cookies, peach brandy pound cake with whipped cream, Mexican chocolate truffles, a prickly pear mascarpone tart with sweet corn crust, and, for one last kick, life-size bittersweet chocolate boots filled with rock candy.
—Kathy L. Greenberg
Jeannette Nunez of Grand Events of Florida arranged split-rail fences, bleached cow skulls, colorful sarapes, saddles, and bales of hay in tableaux throughout the terminal. Tequila and specialty cocktails were served at rope-fringed watering holes with names like Rosita's Cantina and Dewar's 12 Saloon. Guests sat at tables topped with black linen, turquoise napkins, and centerpieces of tall cacti planted in terra-cotta pots.
In the lobby outside the terminal, participants exchanged cash donations for wooden nickels used to pay for games. Six nickels bought a chance to pitch rings at wine bottles in the "wine corral" toss or to rope a motorized calf while riding a metal horse in the calf roping game. For four nickels, guests could play a "human slot machine" operated by three ACS volunteers who quickly alternated stuffed pigs, rubber chickens, and cows in the slot windows. Guests donating $1,000 in real money received a toy stick horse to decorate and enter in a horse race, in a bid for a bottle of signature logo wine, underwritten by Fishman Mortgage Corporation and the Fishman Families. For more traditional cowboy games including roulette, craps, blackjack, and Texas Hold'em, American Convention Entertainment Services set up gaming tables run by professional dealers.
The Cactus Creek Band performed western songs while the crowd milled around a buffet, provided by Rita Carlino's Catering, laden with pepper-crusted smoked tenderloin; pork loin with a sour cherry barbecue sauce; jalapeño and roasted cornbread brie; and quesadillas filled with smoked duck and goat cheese, smoked salmon with cream cheese, or brie and crab with spring onions. Sweets included cowboy cookies, peach brandy pound cake with whipped cream, Mexican chocolate truffles, a prickly pear mascarpone tart with sweet corn crust, and, for one last kick, life-size bittersweet chocolate boots filled with rock candy.
—Kathy L. Greenberg
Grand Events of Florida created tableaux of split-rail fences, bleached cow skulls, colorful sarapes, and bales of hay near watering holes with names like Rosita's Cantina.
At the American Cancer Society's 2005 Cattle Barons' ball, American Convention Entertainment Services set up gaming tables run by professional dealers.
Guests climbed atop a metal horse to try their luck roping a mechanical calf.
The Cactus Creek Band performed western songs throughout the evening.
