Well-heeled prepare for season highlight

By LENNIE BENNETT

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

Pavilion is one of those events that can make even a jaded old galagoer like me perk up with interest.

It is the big fundraiser on Nov. 4 for the Tampa Museum of Art, modeled after the fabled Swan Ball in Nashville, Tenn. Unlike most Tampa parties, Pavilion draws a growing contingent from St. Petersburg every year. Some locals, such as Paul Dresselhaus, Mary and Richard Perry and Tina Douglass, even serve on committees. Why? Because aside from the obvious fact that supporting the museum is a good thing, the party, like the Charity Ball for All Children's Hospital and the Art in Bloom party at the Museum of Fine Arts, sets itself apart in ways that matter to people who are regulars on the party circuit.

For one, you can get really dressed up without feeling like you're overdoing it.

Pavilion, now in its 15th year, is, to my knowledge, the only truly formal fundraising gala in Tampa Bay, and by that I mean it is white tie and tails for men. (In the old days, that was "formal" and a tuxedo was merely "semi-formal.")

Even in this well-heeled group (tickets start at $500), few own their own set of tails, so there is the predictable run on them at local rental places. Women must wear long dresses, preferably the full-skirted kind known as ball gowns. "Women shop for a year and go all over the country, sometimes the world, looking for the right dress," said Suzette Berkman, a museum docent who has been a volunteer with Pavilion since its beginning. "Some spend thousands, and never wear it again once it's been seen at Pavilion."

Another reason is that the committee, this year led by Hilliard and Margo Eure, cares about the most microscopic details in carrying out the theme, which this year is Tuscan.

The improbable site of such a grand party is a tent. The museum is not configured to accommodate 500 for a seated dinner, so a big top is pitched and a temporary floor laid down on an empty lot adjacent to the museum. Although when Tom and Harrison Giddens, owners of Floral Impressions and in charge of decorations, get through with it, it will probably bear little resemblance to a temporary canvas covering.

"Rich fabrics and colors, lots of special lighting," Tom Giddens said of the decorative effects he and his wife will use. "We're having linen and cotton table cloths woven in Tuscany, reproductions of a Renaissance fabric, by a firm that still uses its old looms." More fabric in deep golds and reds will be used to drape the tent, and greenery will be used to create the effect of a vineyard, he said.

The menu, by chic Tampa restaurant Mise en Place, has five courses, with the European touch of serving the salad before the dessert rather than before the entree. It will have conventional food -- pasta, sea bass, beef tenderloin -- with interesting twists using zucchini blossoms, fennel, porcini and white truffle oil.

The Lester Lanin Orchestra, a well-known society orchestra, will be imported to play, and an auctioneer from Sotheby's will lead the live auction, which will have a few important pieces of jewelry and some nice trips. "Obviously, we hope one can be to Italy," said Mrs. Eure.

Patrons' gifts -- customary for those who pay more for their tickets -- this year are chargers or oversized dinner plates designed for the occasion by ceramic artist Jenny Lou Sherburne in four different floral patterns.

Two new additions will be part of Pavilion XV, Mrs. Eure said. "Mezzanotte at Pavilion," beginning at midnight, targets younger patrons with a lower ticket price and a black-tie dress code, serving fritattas and cappuccino. Tuscan Tables will replace the traditional Patrons Party, held during the week of the gala. About 20 hostesses in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties will have small seated dinners in their homes throughout the week preceding the gala.

Best of all, much of the expense has been underwritten. Changing the Patrons Party format saves about $10,000, said Mrs. Eure, with hostesses bearing all expenses for the smaller dinners. The Italina table cloths for the gala are the gift of Smith & Associates, a real estate company, and Tom Giddens said that the cloths will be raffled at the end of the evening for additional revenue.

Last year's party raised more than $100,000 for the museum's Third Grade and Seventh Grade Partnerships with the Hillsborough school district, which brings thousands of children to the museum each year. Pavilion XV is expected to match or top that figure.

The party sells out early and there always is a waiting list, so if you are interested in attending, call (813) 274-7350. Town and Country plans to feature photographs from Pavilion in one of its issues, so -- who knows? -- you could have your 15 minutes of fame.

Not since I found myself years ago in an underground bunker in Belfast, Northern Ireland, have I seen so many sandbags. Stopping by Good Night Moon last week, a favorite shop and one that specializes in fine linens, I was halted by a row of them lining the entry to it and others along Beach Drive NE. Owner Diane Lyle had to close the shop for several days because the carpet and many of her lovely things -- bedskirts, for example -- had been ruined by flooding caused by recent rain and a backed-up drainage system. In true the-show-must-go-on spirit, she opened up for me so I was able to get a birthday gift for a friend.

Then I moved on to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, a few blocks north, where Krista Bowling and Chris Doubles presided over an anniversary party for the resort. They said that they, too, had been affected by the flooding, with Fred's Club and the lower parking levels harboring standing water. But everything was dry for the cake and punch party, which celebrated the date of the hotel's reopening in 1992 after its $93-million restoration. (The hotel only cost about $3-million to build in 1925. "That's inflation," said Mrs. Bowling.)

Regrettably, I could not stay for afternoon tea, a ritual recently inaugurated at the Vinoy, and it's a deal. For $10, you are served a "Sweet Tea" consisting of the beverage and loads of little pastries. The concept is sort of to start dinner with dessert, which I find appealing. Tea is served on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 2-5 p.m. It fills up quickly, so reservations are advised: 894-1000, ext. 511.

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