Atmosphere at Green Tie Ball 2006

Jen Moran and Eric Ferguson from "Eric and Kathy Show\" on The Mix

Jana Rhodes, Katherine Madison, Vanessa Mason and Brooke Blashill

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Green Tie Ball
A Fantasy for the Senses

It's that time of year again. The one fall gala that everyone looks forward to that is for the seen-to-be seen crowd and a unique mixture of guests. This year the Green Tie Ball was held on September 16, 2006, on Northerly Island (a 91- acre peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan in Chicago by architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham) with the theme Fantasy Island. The crowd was pleasantly greeted by the characters of that infamous 80's show, including a smiling Tattoo calling for "de plane... de plane."

Tents scattered around the Green Tie Ball offered relaxing and cozy environments, including the W Hotel tent with cushy pillows and sleek furniture, along with generous complimentary beauty products from Bliss Spa. Tattoo's Penthouse Tent provided live entertainment from the memorable DJ Jumpin' James, Piano Man, and DJ Victor R. The three outside stages provided all sorts of talent from live cover bands, DJ's spinning dance music and exotic hula dancers.

The crowd was dressed to the nines in evening gowns and tuxes. Women looked like they had taken hours to carefully choose their ensemble, and many opted for spaghetti strap or strapless dresses with beaded or lace detailing. One dress I admired was a short sequined number from Cynthia Rowley. The clean lines with the mixed organza detailing made it work. I also spotted numerous dresses from current collections of Vera Wang, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Bebe. The men, of course, looked sharp in their tuxes and most opted for a tie instead for the usual bow tie. Of course some guests had fun with keeping the theme and dressing in green.

This is the type of event that makes all of us proud to be Chicagoans. The top chefs of the Chicago area were at the "Island" to have you sample their culinary creations, only to get hooked on visiting their establishments. We started off with visiting Flatwater's table, especially since they had just opened in Chicago and sampled their tuna and seaweed salad. The tuna appetizer had me asking what made the sauce so delicious. The answer amusingly was "magic ketchup" (Sriracha Sauce). We also stopped by 4 Taste for their evil, but all so heavenly butternut squash and apple ravioli with creme sauce and pecans, sampled fresh maki rolls from Tokyo 21, devoured the mouthwatering shredded pork sandwiches from Smoke Daddy, and finished with the tender marinated beef skewers carefully grilled by the Weber Grill.
After we had our culinary exploration, we decided to move on and enjoy an overstocked bar of the finest liquors and danced until our curiosity took over to check out all the wonderful prizes that were being auctioned.

It would not be a "Fantasy Island" without the bling and we surely found that with a raffle featuring the stunning, custom-made platinum, red gold and diamond necklace encasing a 15.60 CTS. rectangular cut Morganite stone! This piece of jewelry was designed for the Green Tie Ball and generously donated on behalf of Holtzmann's. Also, there were 4-star culinary packages, sports and concert memorabilia and fine art auctioned.

When the event ended we were handed wonderful goody bags offering valuable coupons and samples of products to try when we got home. This is one of the highlights of the year that any Chicagoan should not miss. It gave us great pride knowing that the money from the tickets, raffles, and auctions goes to such an amazing cause ... keeping Chicago's Gateways green, lush and beautiful.

-Christine Scott