This fall’s Indigo Ball will fuse the new with the old — with a change of location, the return of a previous format and a new afterparty — to make the William Way LGBT Community Center’s annual fundraiser the largest yet.
Indigo Ball, Oct. 1 at the Arts Bank — as opposed to last year’s event at the DoubleTree — will bring back the former sit-down-dinner format.
This year, however, the formal affair will be followed by a new dance party, “Indi GO-GO,” from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St.
“Until last year, the ball had been a formal black-tie event, but last year we wanted to open it up to a new audience that might not have been able to afford the dinner,” explained center executive director Chris Bartlett. “So last year, we did a buffet dinner with a dance element. But this year we decided to have a formal dinner first for the folks who enjoy that and then a community-oriented dance afterward. So it’s the best of both worlds.”
Bartlett said he expects a sell-out crowd of 225 for the formal dinner portion, which runs from 6-9:30 p.m. Tickets are $175 per person, and the evening will be catered by Stephen Starr Events.
After the dinner, revelers can head to The Troc, where Bartlett said up to 800 partiers are expected to turn out for “Indi GO-GO.” Tickets are expected to cost $15-$25.
The center is looking for the whole evening to net up to $60,000, Bartlett said.
Heshie Zinman, one of the organizers of the party, said he was encouraged to help spearhead “Indi GO-GO” after the success of last year’s Indigo Ball.
“Last year, it was a Mardi Gras theme with a lot of dancing, and there were a lot of new folks who came out for it,” he said. “And this year they’re returning to the sit-down dinner theme, which is great because they’ll certainly reach large donors and cornerstone members that way, but I thought that since everyone had so much fun last year as well that we should try to organize something along those lines.”
Among the many people collaborating on the event, organizers enlisted the help of two women with experience hosting LGBT events — Amber Hikes and Morgan Levine, who stage the Stimulus and Arouse parties — in planning “Indi GO-GO.”
Zinman said he expects “Indo GO-GO,” which is a 21-and-over event, to attract a wide range of partiers.
“We anticipate that it’ll be a very age-diverse, very gender-diverse, very racially and ethnically diverse crowd,” Zinman said.
Zinman said he’s eager for the party to be a yearly addition to Indigo Ball, and encouraged all LGBTs and allies to turn out in full force to ensure that can happen.
“We think this is going to be a really great party for all members of the community. We’re so excited about the direction William Way’s going in,” Zinman said. “Chris has done an incredible job as executive director, the board has been doing a really impressive job, and they’ve got so many more volunteers and folks who are getting involved in William Way. So the more people who come out to make this event a success and help us raise funds and bring in new members, the greater chance we have of making this an annual event.”
Those interested in volunteering for the events or assisting with planning can contact development director Michael Pomante at 215-732-2220 or [email protected].
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].