Shall We Dance?

I was recently on a boat tour around Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. If you’ve never done this before, you should. Homes on this lake range from the historic and stately to modern, some were built in the mid 1800’s and are bigger, grander, and hold more memories than you can imagine. These are the lucky ones left standing amid others that have been torn down to make room for the monstrosities of the last 10-20 years whose square footage make a 1999 mall look like a shack and cost anywhere between $3-$35 million dollars. The tour takes about 2-1/2 hours and some really fun and energetic characters lead the way.

Among the impressive homes around the lake lies several camps, resorts, multi-unit condos, villas, and more. Each neighborhood seems to be grander than the next and each one is named after another area from Illinois. Many families from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs would weekend or summer around the beautiful lake to escape the hubbub of the city…and the lake? Neighborhoods were named after Illinois cities like Harvey, Glen View, Elgin, Elmhurst, and more.

Homes have been owned by many famous families including: Wrigley, Maytag, the Harris Family (of Harris Trust & Savings Bank), the owner of the Yellow Taxi Cab Company, the President of the Morton Salt Company, and the owners or founders of Montgomery Ward, the Drake Hotel, True Value hardware, Marshall Fields, and Andes Candies to name a few.

One meager abode, Stone Manor, is the largest estate on the lake consisting of seven stories and features gold plated fixtures, a rooftop swimming pool, a hand-carved dining table that seats 100 people (among many, many other special features), and was said to have a dance hall that could hold 1000 dancers. This got me thinking about planning an old fashioned ball in a grand hall like this.

Some of the logistics would look a lot different back then than they do now but I imagine some aspects of event planning never change. The dance floor and furniture would need to be cleaned. The gold finishings would need to be polished. Food and beverages would need to be planned and purchased and temporary wait staff hired. The host or event planner would need to hire musicians, have the gardens tended to, and send out invitations. In the early days people would put a pineapple on their fence post to indicate they were hosting a party. This is why the pineapple is the international symbol for hospitality.

Aspects of this grand ball that would be different, but might be fun to try to plan, would be caring for all of the horses that would bring guests in carriages, lighting the candles of the chandeliers in the ballroom, and knowing in what order the choreographed dances should be scheduled. I am sure when a live string ensemble provides music for the evening that a lot more space and equipment is required as well.

I can just imagine the sights and sounds of a grand ball with 1000 people in attendance. The ballroom would need to be enormous as would the kitchen. Ladies in large hoop-skirted dresses and men in tuxedos twirling around the room. Dishes and silverware clamoring in the kitchen, and the sound of horse whinnies in the background as the strings play away. That would be a fun event to plan for sure.

As I dream about what would be included in planning a fairytale event like this, we are back at the dock and therefore, back to reality.

Have you planned a large-scale dance or an actual ball? If so, first of all I would be very surprised, but secondly, I would love to hear about your experience! Email me or share a little story with us here.

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