Benefit Has a Carnevale Atmosphere

It’s no small job to dress a shopping center for a party. The Junior League of Orange County got the look right on Saturday, filling the wide-open spaces of South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court with lots of people, lots of food, a big band’s big brassy sound and decorations scaled for Rose Parade floats. And they kept the ticket price to a Lilliputian $45.

“Orange County ticket prices are getting out of sight,” said Anina Henderson, who chaired the benefit. “It’s gotten too elitist. We wanted to keep the price down so everyone who wanted to could attend.”

More than 450 people thought that sounded like a good deal.

La Dolce Festa

Party planners dubbed their fund-raiser Carnevale--from the Italian for carnival (not the Spanish for steak). “We researched it, and there’s a celebration in Venice that claims to be the oldest one, with the most history,” explained Henderson.

Guests knew they were in for a Mardi Gras kind of night when they glimpsed the giant, masked prop faces deployed around the mall, the three-story columns of yellow, pink and blue balloons, the silvery curtains of fringe hung from the vaulted ceiling.

Magicians, “psychics” and a caricaturist plied their trades; a casino area was set up on the mall’s second level. Dinner fare included samplings from Bangkok Four, Gustaf Anders, Scott’s Seafood, Gandhi, Gianni and the Garden Bistro.

Between songs, Henderson, Katherine Tatarian and Junior League President Dee Knapper trotted onto the bandstand to welcome guests. “Si fa una festa esta sera!” they chanted. (“There’s a party tonight.”)

Revelers

Randy Gustafson sat through a psychic’s card reading while his wife, Vicki, a Junior Leaguer, looked on with a bemused expression. Then she burst out laughing.

“He said my husband gives more than he takes,” she explained. ‘C’mon! He’s an attorney!”

Pamela and Kevin Sjodin posed for caricatures. Dina and Patrick Meek learned a card trick from a strolling magician. Ruth Anne and Shawn Neville played blackjack with Brooke and Brad Parker.

Annette Mysona, in a feathery mask, said the party made her think she’d like to join the Junior League. The Rancho Santa Margarita resident, who works as a field manager for a car company, worried about scheduling conflicts. Still, she resolved to find out more about the volunteer organization. “This seems like a really nice network of interesting women,” she said. “And I’d like to do something for the community.”

Hosting

More than 1,000 local women aged 21 to 50 belong to the Junior League of Orange County, a 20-year-old nonprofit group that trains and places volunteers with charitable programs ranging from the arts to homelessness and child sexual abuse. Carnevale raised an estimated $23,000.

“In the old days, the Junior League was a real social group--white gloves and debutantes, that kind of thing,” said Dee Knapper. “The focus has shifted to the volunteerism. We don’t have deb balls anymore, and we have a lot of members who are working women.”