As guests streamed into the beautiful home of Jennifer and Walker Royall on Thursday, May 16, for the Cattle Baron’s Ball Trailblazer’s Party, many couldn’t wait to have their photos taken with country singer Keith Urban.
Well, not exactly with Keith himself, but with a life-sized, cardboard cutout of the Aussie star. Keith will be headlining, of course, at the 2019 Cattle Baron’s Ball at Gilley’s Dallas on Saturday, October 19.
“Can we take a picture with him?” one party attendee asked hopefully, sidling up to the life-sized cutout. “Sure,” replied a guy with a camera.
Nicole Kidman‘s hubby wasn’t the only attraction at the gathering, of course. In other rooms and in the backyard, attendees were checking out the Royalls’ toys—the ping-pong/billiards table, the putting green, the basketball court, the infinity pool—and catching up with their CBB friends. Among the 200 or so guests were Lisa and Bill Ogle, Jonika Nix, Megan Flanagan, Carole and Scott Murray, Tia Wynne, Joanna Clarke, Jennifer Burns, Doris Jacobs, Nikki and Crayton Webb, Marjon Henderson, Daniella Giglio, Kristen Gibbins, Cara French, Jacque Wynne, Bragg Forrest and Carol Seay.
Others attending included Kathy Nelson, Urek Reznik, Helene Whissen, Amy Turner, Stacey and John Relton, Anne Davidson, Gail Fischer, Megan Pionkowski and Jeff Matthews.
Walker explained that he and Jennifer had been to “four or five or six Cattle Baron’s Balls” in the past, and had written “a few checks” for the cause. That surely would have been music to the ears of 2019 CBB Co-chairs Wendy Messmann and Lisa Haddow Shirley.
They were making sure guests were aware of various opportunities to donate to the Ball, including paying $1,000 for the right to have a “personal paver” installed on the grounds of the American Cancer Society Gene and Jerry Jones Family Hope Lodge in Dallas.
Underwriting contracts for the October 19 bash also were being circulated. The contracts pointed out that beneficiary the American Cancer Society could use $150,000 for patient navigation needs, $250,000 for patient transportation, and more than $4 million for cancer research.
For more looks at the evening, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.