UP AND COMING

Mock beasts had a ball for Van Wyck's birthday

Submitted photo / HANNAH THOMSON / 2/7/15 / Mary Lynn and Bronson Van Wyck at the Bal des Sauvages in Manhattan for their son's birthday.
Submitted photo / HANNAH THOMSON / 2/7/15 / Mary Lynn and Bronson Van Wyck at the Bal des Sauvages in Manhattan for their son's birthday.

Hear about Bronson Van Wyck's birthday bash Feb. 7? One woman arrived wearing an 11-foot albino boa constrictor. There were a Siberian tiger cub and a jaguar kitten. It was written up in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post's Page 6.

It was a Bal des Sauvages, a Beasts' Ball, for the Tuckerman native on the occasion of his birthday, which was actually Jan. 18, and not his 40th as reported but his 42nd, a masquerade of people costumed as their favorite beast of the fields -- stags and wolves and birds, prey and predators and glam.

Mike Mahoney from El Dorado was a kind of razorback, a razorback satyr, maybe, Van Wyck recalled last week. Averitt Buttry of Little Rock was "some kind of golden stag with gilded antlers." Jonathan Rhodes of Cherokee Village was a ram. Van Wyck's parents, Mary Lynn and Bronson, came as the queen and king of the fictional forest in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Martha Stewart, Candice Bergen and Julia Koch (nee Flesher, of Conway) were there.

"Part of the fun, too, I work on events ... I've gone to so many nice parties, I owed a lot of people invitations."

He and his mother founded Van Wyck & Van Wyck in Manhattan. It's become one of the premier party planning agencies in the country, with credits including last year's NBA All-Star game festivities in New Orleans and, last fall, the Barney's New York holiday window unveiling at their Madison Avenue digs in partnership with movie director Baz Luhrmann.

The subterranean soiree took place in a downtown warehouse. Folks arrived at an unmarked door in a locale that "felt a little sketchy," Van Wyck said. Inside, they stepped into an unadorned room, a "dead end," whence they passed through "a secret door" into a surreal masquerade ball and fun house. Along with the live animals there was taxidermy and couches sumptuously upholstered in leather and strung with furs.

There were performances by Flo Rida and Van Wyck himself.

One room was fitted with mirrors on the walls, ceiling and floor. Van Wyck's people took a sledgehammer to them, and the effect was a continual reflection not easily discerned. It was called "The Death of Vanity," and "at one point, really, really late in the night, I stood in the doorway looking into that room watching people sort of run into walls, and it wasn't just because they were well served."

The woman with the live boa constrictor later tried to leave it with two women checking coats. She had a cloth sack for its keeping and asked them not to set it on the cold floor. The attendants weren't having it.

Ostensibly a fete for Van Wyck, the celebration was also his responsibility as host. The first Bal des Sauvages was a masquerade in the 14th-century French court of Charles VI at which the king, disguised as a beast, danced for the entertainment of his subjects. The ball is alternately named the Ball of the Burning Men because the dancers caught fire in their flammable outfits -- whether by accident or coup attempt, stories conflict -- and several died.

Fortunately for Van Wyck, his fete avoided that fate, but he's sincere when he says the solicitousness of the spoiled king is something he appreciates.

"I suppose it started with travelers needing water and food, but that notion of you taking responsibility for a period of time and allowing [invited guests] to kind of leave their own cares, the travails of their journey or their tough week -- leave all that behind. It's almost like a return to the womb if it's done right."

SPEAKING OF HOSPITALITY

It's a downright degusting fact of our 21st-century American experience that food festivals never fail. At least, that's how it appears from where I sit, keeping a ledger of the city's fundraising traffic.

From the Gillett Coon Supper (January) and Soup Sunday (February) through the Greek and Jewish food festivals (April, May) to the World Cheese Dip Championship and the Signature Chefs Auction (October) ... Food. Never. Fails.

Call it Grandma's Law -- people are just damned affable with a mouthful of falafel.

No one's quicker on this draw than our two big chambers of commerce, whose missions are chiefly to promote their members, many of whom peddle edibles. Last spring, the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce held its 10th Taste of the Rock and, in the fall, the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce its 21st Taste of the Town.

If you haven't, mark this year's events on your calendar. They are perhaps the only under-priced fundraisers you'll find.

And now the Little Rock chamber is hosting one in North Little Rock (Dickey-Stephens Park) to benefit area service nonprofits.

On March 12 from 5 to 7 p.m., at least nine vendors, including Gina's Catering, Mickey's Cakes & Sweets, Moe's Southwest Grill, Newk's Eatery and Shark's Fish and Chicken, along with beverage distributors Coca-Cola, Golden Eagle, Glazer's and Premium Refreshment, will help grease the pitches of participating area charities at the sixth Serve the Rock. At $5 in advance ($10 at the door), this is another of those events that are interesting and inspiring (hopefully) and double as dinner out.

"This is a chance for the next generation to get involved. It's not a $500 gala, it's a $5 ticket," says Graham Cobb.

"This event was designed to ground people to their community. That's why Create Little Rock is involved" -- the young professionals who put on Pop Up events. "The idea is, let's create the Little Rock we want. The idea is, we have to make a Little Rock that not only attracts the best talent but retains it with a high quality of place."

For tickets or more information, visit LittleRockChamber.com or call (501) 377-6007.

Write me at

bampezzan@arkansasonline.com

High Profile on 03/01/2015

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