Black Tie Holiday Benefit Ball - Announcement
Black Tie Ball on Hiatus for 2011
The Mimbres Region Arts Council has announced that the popular Black Tie Ball has been put on hiatus for this year. The Black Tie Ball has been an annual event hosted by the “Friends of the Black Tie” as a major fundraiser to benefit the Arts Council “Unfortunately, there was no venue that could accommodate the event, especially after the very successful Ball held last year at the Murray Hotel Ballroom” stated MRAC Director Faye McCalmont. “The Ball last year really raised the bar on the number of people attending, the size of the dance floor and a stage for the band” she said. “The Friends felt the event could not move back to a smaller venue."
The fundraiser, a formal potluck, has grown in popularity since it’s inception years ago as a private party in the small town of Gila. Sometime around 1996 organizers began having the event at the Buffalo Dance Hall and it became known as the Black Tie at the Buffalo. “Some years the event was so crowded there was barely enough room to move,” McCalmont stated.
In 2006, “The Friends of the Black Tie” who sponsored the event decided to begin charging for attendance and gave the proceeds to the Arts Council to help fund their ongoing programs. Last year organizers worked with the Murray Hotel to produce the event in the middle of their construction project. The Ballrooom was transformed from a construction zone into a “beautiful gilded winter wonderland” recalled Dale Marcy, former MRAC president. “It was beautiful and surely an evening attendees will long remember.”
Working with the Friends, MRAC has already reserved the date, Saturday, December 15th, with the owners of the Murray Hotel for the use of their ballroom for the return of the event in 2012.
For more information on the event, or any MRAC program, please contact the MRAC office at 538‐2505 or stop by their offices in the Wells Fargo Bank Building at 1201 Pope St.
Click to view a photo gallery of the Black Tie Ball 2010...