OTT: 'Tis the season to party, party, party

Nate and Melanie Christian.

Mary and Brian Kennedy, left, and Leslie Ansberg, and George Chapman at the Toledo Museum of Art's Winter Ball.

Toledo Museum of Art's first Winter Ball presented by Libbey was Dec. 18 in the Glass Pavilion. The building and its art glowed in the candlelight, setting an ethereal scene with a backdrop of new-fallen snow peeking from the outside.

Greeting the formally clad ladies and gents were event chairmen George Chapman, Leslie Ansberg, and Sara Jane DeHoff.

Sara Jane and Bill DeHoff.

Then it was off in the crowd for cocktails, hors d'oeuves, and a gourmet winter feast served at stations by the museum's Erika Rapp.

Entertainment included glass-making demonstrations and participation, the Film Festival preview, and dancing to the tunes of Mel Ball and Colours of Detroit.

Nate and Melanie Christian.

Among the 350 guests who paid $500 each were Mike and Carol Anderson, Jim Moore and Tim Valko, Rita Mansour, Margy and Scott Trumbull, George and Kathy Jones, Christy and Spence Stone, John and Yolanda Szuch, and Debbie Knight and her husband, Tony, in his family tartan kilt. Looking especially stunning was Paula Fall in one of her gowns from her Sophia Lustig Shop.

Rasesh and Shilpa Shah.

The approximate net of $75,000 was raised for the museum's Community ArtReach program.

Assisting with the event was a vast committee that included chairmen Gay Deiger, Mary Wolfe, Mary Ellen Pisanelli and Lou Tosi, Robert Zollweg, Betsy Brady. Dennis Johnson, and many others. All smiles was Brian Kennedy, museum director, and his wife, Mary.