Diamonds and Ice Gala

The Berkshire County Kid's Place held their 25th Anniversary "Diamonds and Ice" Fundraising Gala at the Country Club of Pittsfield on October 19, 2018. In addition to DJing and emceeing portions of the Gala, I provided the lighting and decor services detailed below.

This venue is one of Pittsfield's busiest, and the attendees at this event make up a veritable who's who is the business and political landscape of the area. They've all been here before, but the Gala committee wanted to make sure they'd never seen it look like this before--and folks knew it before they even exited their vehicles! This covered entrance features bright, icy blue uplighting and an animated effect you'll get a better look at in my video below.

After passing through the main entrance, guests make their way through this registration room, where uplighting sets an icy tone of what's to follow. You'll get to see what it was like to pass through this space in the video below.

The showstopper at this Gala was this installation of animated dripping icicles. The client expressed an interest in these at our first planning meeting in the early spring of 2018. They were an innovative (and fairly pricey) new product then, and something I did not offer at the time. As you can see, I made it happen for them! A nearly invisible support structure was the secret behind this complex, massive undertaking. I own over 400 of these, and I installed almost all of them for this client--over three hundred as pictured here, and another hundred or so outdoors over the main entrance to the party. Wait until you see these in action in the video below!

One of the things that spurred the event theme and design was a new idea I shared with the committee as we finished up with their Gala the previous year. I mentioned I could make their tables glow from underneath using my massive fleet of high-powered, wireless uplights. With the help of some custom-ordered, floor length linens, we made it happen--for 25 tables! They also rented 30 of my exclusive, slant-top glass vases. They did a marvelous job of filling them with a convincing icy mix complete with white, glittery curly willow bedazzled with hanging crystals and glistening snowflakes. Lastly, I pinspotted all of them for a spectacular effect! Just look at them pop in this photo! I also made a dazzling pyramid of glassware on a glass top table glow the same way and pinspotted the top prize of the evening featured at its pinnacle--a $1500 diamond necklace! You'll see all of this up close in the video that follows.

The main room featured a prominently displayed custom monogram. It's design reinforced the event branding by incorporating the same fonts used in the official save-the-dates, online graphics promoting the event, and on the cover of the evening's program at each of over two hundred place settings. This one was animated with a large rotating diamond in the middle. You can see it in action in the video to come.

This auction space is central to the success of this fundraising Gala. With over two hundred attendees slowly making their way through scrutinizing which items they'd like to take home, space is tight in this long narrow room. Each year, the challenge isn't just what can I do in here to top what I did the year before, but to stay focused on what can actually be done once the space fills with people. This year, I hung 8 wireless, self-illuminating, two-tiered crystal chandeliers and made it snow throughout most of this room--using light! You can see this effect for yourself in my video below. I also lit 2 more tables in the ends of this space using some wireless downlighting.

Well, I've sure mentioned it plenty; now see for yourself what it was like to attend this event!