Bouncing around Dallas on Saturday, September 19, was like a pinball machine that was going through a major power surge. In addition to a ton of morning activities (Tour Des Fleurs, One Love Fits All, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s Friends of the Poor Walk, etc.), the P.M. fundraisers started in early afternoon. Over at the Winspear, it was Ladies Night Out for Twyla Tharp‘s 50th Anniversary performance. At the Dallas Children’s Theater, it was a gathering of young princesses in diva-like sunglasses attending a performance “Fancy Nancy: The Musical” for the Fancy Nancy and Friends Party. And then, of course, Garth was packing ‘em in at the American Airlines Center for two performances, which made downtown Dallas getting around even more interesting.
The Great Texas Food Truck Rally
It may have sounded like an 18-wheeler cauliflower, but the Executives In Action’s Great Texas Food Truck Rally was far from it.
Even in the glow of the afternoon sun, the crowds were growing to hear musical guests James Otto, CJ Solar, the Ray Johnston Band, Northern National and Cameron Ernst on-stage, and to line up at one of the 20+ food trucks lining the perimeter of the Reunion Tower Lawn. Among the trucks was the EIA’s new food truck that was created to provide random acts and snacks of kindness “without a profit in mind.”
With EIA Founder Ashlee Kleinert waving to all from Reunion Tower and folks settling in for a long stay, the afternoon food festival wasn’t a first timer for this group. No, siree. Last year the event took ….no…overwhelmed Reverchon Park, with 10,000 showing up.
This year EIA Kimberly Westphall orchestrated mini-events to see how the Reunion acreage would handle the estimated 20,000 guests.
By the time the Great Texas Food Truck Rally was opening at 2 p.m., everything was pretty much locked down including portable ATM’s, volunteers like Nancy Gopez checking folks in, perfect views of the tower and Omni Dallas Hotel and, later, the setting sun in the west just past the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
Fur Ball
Speaking of the Omni Dallas, it was the site of the SPCA of Texas Fur Ball with 800 including Doris and Jack Jacobs, Brian Miller, Mark Soto, Rhonda Sargent Chambers and Phyllis (she’ll be co-chairing the 2016 Fur Ball with Kristen Greenberg) and CJ Comu in black tie and nearly a dozen in tails. Yup, adoptable pups were in playpens toward the back of the reception area on the third level. Very smart placement. Why? Because at points during the evening, the Kaminari Taiko Japanese Drumming Ensemble drummers let loose with earthquake-like performances on the second level near the escalator. As guests passed by the musicians, it was hard to look cool or cop an “I didn’t notice the music” attitude when the room shook.
Looking quite stunning were Honorary Co-Chairs Janelle and Larry Friedman.
Mayor Mike Rawlings and his bride Micki Rawlings popped by for a greet-and-meet with SPCA’s James Bias and co-chairs Stacey Kivowitz, Katy Murray and Jocelyn White. Then they quickly headed into the sunset, or rather to their vehicle. Seems Dallas’ first couple still had a couple more events on their schedule.
Too bad they didn’t stay around. In addition to Kelly Thompson receiving the Mary Spencer Humanitarian Award, there was a very special item in the live auction: a suite at American Airlines Center for the Tuesday night Garth Brooks concert plus a signed guitar. And to add to the sweetness of the deal, Garth was going to match the bid. Who won that one? Why Andrea Alcorn, who quickly became everybody’s BFF.
Director’s Cut
The Dallas Museum of Art’s Junior Associates were on to a mystery venture. They had been invited to attend the Director’s Cut for an announcement, but were not told where to show up until the last minute. It turned out to be at Harwood International. As they emerged from their cars, they were to follow a trail of stickers leading to the elevator. Once inside there was sticker on one of the buttons. Pushing the button, they found themselves on the second floor of the building and in a raw space that was filled to the gills with a photo booth, never-ending bar, loads of food and Dallas Museum of Art Eugene McDermott Director Max and Jacqueline Anderson in the back of the room with Co-Chairs Rachel and Michael Osburn.
As the body count rose, so did the room temperature. The valets had been told to expect 50, but more than 200 (Vodi Cook, Tierney Kaufman with fiancée Jared Hutchins, Bonnie Karamalegos, Brent Crenshaw, Kadi Eykamp, Kristina Kiik, Valerie Maniscalo, Taylor Zakarin, Rachel Roberts, Cameron Kimmel-Spivey, David Kimmel-Spivey, Tristan Fernandez, Michelle de Metz and Bill DeArman) showed up. By 8:40, the parking garage was already full!
When the time came for the announcement, Max let Jacqueline do the honors. The announcement was that the annual Affair of the Art had been cut, so JA’s could take on the April 23 Art Ball after-party. Instead of tears, cheers were heard and then it was back to partying.
Little did anyone suspect that another cut was in the works and that this would be the Andersons’ final public appearance for the DMA. Nine days later, Max announced that he was cutting ties with the DMA and heading to New York City to join up with New Cities Foundation.