With the stormy weather holding out tonight, 2024 Crystal Charity Ball Chair Cheryl Joyner gathered committee members and the Ball’s purveyors at Turtle Creek Park’s Arlington Hall for the announcement of the December’s gala theme.
For guests and gown designers, this announcement has been anticipated to set creative juices on overload, complementing the night in which more than 1,300 will showcase their finery in saluting and funding Dallas County children’s non-profits (Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, HHM Health, Methodist Health System Foundation, Parkland Health Foundation, The Center for Integrative Counseling and Psychology, Traffick911 and Vogel Alcove).
As the crowd of more than 125 gathered in the lobby, the clues were on the center table with topiary and twinkling lights. Janie Condon immediately picked up on the arrangement, exclaiming “Carlyle topiaries!” just as the guests moved into the main room, where a pianist was in the center and the stage’s curtains closed.
After saluting her husband Richard Joyner, who had overcome a daunting variety of “transportation” challenges to make it to the big reveal, Cheryl acknowledged the people and companies that will bring together the night of splendor (Tom Addis, Garry Cox, Paul Fields, Jamie Furrate, Tim Ishii and Hilton Anatole’s Beverly Anderson and Roberta Robertson).
Then, right on cue, the pianist began tickling the ivories to the tune of “New York, New York” as the stage curtains parted to reveal “New York Holiday,” and the room’s doors opened with servers presenting trays of Manhattans to guests seated cozily at round tables lit as if they were in Dowling’s.
As Richard laughed that the snow-flocked trees matched his hair, the response was a room resounding with cheers as the gears of designing minds went into overdrive to celebrate the New York kind of happening on Saturday, December 7, at the Hilton Anatole.