Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506060103
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There was the DiStephano home, where you had to put on surgical booties before reaching the interior decorator who hollered, ``Don't step on the rug! You can walk anywhere BUT on the rug!''
Then there was the Wilks home, where Margaret Wilks met us all at the door and said, ``Come on in! It's a home, it's meant to be lived in. Enjoy!''
I was reminded of these two homes recently when I attended the black-tie gala for Roanoke Festival in the Park at the Jefferson Center.
This interior of this facility is one of the most lavish and lovely I've ever seen. It was my first time at the Festival Gala, so I think I can best compare it to this area's other public soiree with a high glam factor - Affair in the Square.
I was surprised to hear our newspaper had sent out a reporter to cover what was being described as major damage to the Jefferson Center.
I didn't see any major damage.
It was no worse than any of the zillions of shindigs I`ve attended. Well, with the exception of a Virginia Tech Halloween party where the beer and pink grain punch were ankle-deep.
What I saw at the Jefferson Center was standard party mayhem. Maybe mayhem isn't even the right word, because this crowd was older. Sophisticated. More subdued than the really lively Affair in the Square crew.
It was a fairly large crowd, so it was tough to move around. That's how drinks are spilled.
People were tossing Mylar confetti and funny money.
Just like when we were given silver glitter to toss in the Center in the Square atrium a couple of years back.
Jane Stephenson, executive director and manager of the Jefferson Center, was very upset. I guess I can't blame her, because the aftermath of a large party caught her by surprise.
As far as clean-up responsibilities went, the Festival crew was to take down their decorations and take out the trash.
The Jefferson Center would sweep and mop.
The folks over at Center in the Square could have given the Jefferson Center some tips.
Stephenson was appalled that she needed to shampoo the carpets.
At Center in the Square, shampooing the carpets is a standard, factored into the price of leasing the space.
Both facilities are homes.
Center in the Square is home to Mill Mountain Theatre, the Science Museum of Western Virginia and Hopkins Planetarium, the Roanoke Valley Historical Society and Museum, the Art Museum of Western Virginia and the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
The newly renovated Jefferson Center has given an appropriately chic home to a number of nonprofit organizations, including Opera Roanoke and the Roanoke Symphony.
Some staff members of these organizations were in tears when they arrived at work the morning after the Festival Gala.
One told me it looked and smelled like a bar on a Sunday morning.
Yes, drinks had been spilled. Shrimp had been squashed into the carpet.
And I don't think I have to explain how hard it is to remove Mylar confetti - or any type of confetti for that matter - from a wet, sticky carpet.
In all fairness, some beautiful wood molding was chipped. And you'd have to bring in Jessica Fletcher to explain the golf ball-sized hole in the wall.
But Stephenson said it was her staff that set up the table and chairs right against that wood molding.
At any rate, I feel compelled as a guest at the Festival Gala to voice an opinion that the party was no different than any other gala I've attended.
But the bottom line is that any of these places still are homes. And when we are there, we are obligated to act like guests.
Despite the unfortunate damage to the Jefferson Center, I really must say that the group there that evening behaved as guests should.
Perhaps the crowd was too large for the Jefferson Center. Perhaps this is the center's first encounter with confetti. And multiple caterers. And maybe the $1 cocktails weren't such a good idea. (At Center in the Square, they make you pay $3.)
I have a feeling the Jefferson Center is going to be the place to have a wedding reception. A retirement dinner. Or the North Cross prom - which did indeed use the center recently.
It may well be the DiStephano of party facilities in this area.
Center in the Square, the second floor of Alexander's and the like can be party facilities of the Wilks variety: user-friendly, having defined themselves as the type of home you are proud of and keep an eye on, but don't necessarily need surgical booties to walk through.
by CNB