Italian Embassy to Host Georgetown Gala October 18th
The 2013 Georgetown Gala, the annual black tie Citizens Association of Georgetown (CAG) event that brings together over 350 guests, neighbors, sponsors, and politicos to celebrate Georgetown and CAG’s mission of historic preservation and improving the life of the community, will be held on October 18th and will honor Herbert and Patrice Miller.
As this is the Year of Italian Culture in the US, the event will be held for the first time at the stunning Italian Embassy on Whitehaven Street. Ambassador and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero will be Honorary Chairs. This Venetian Carnivale masked ball features a refined Italian dinner buffet, fabulous entertainment, unique live auction items, a hip After Party, and more.
The Italian Embassy, designed by Piero Sartogo Architects, is distinctively Italian while also complementing the surrounding landscape and architecture of Washington, DC. “Sartogo’s building plan evokes Italy’s architectural tradition, with the patterns of solids and spaces and the lean, austere lines characteristic of a Tuscan villa, while the great, slanting buttress….recalls the stalwart defensive bastions of a medieval castle.”
The honorees, Herbert and Patrice Miller are long-time Georgetown residents and patrons. In 1967, Mr. Miller founded Western Development Corporation, a Washington D.C.-based real estate development and management organization with a forty-four year history of innovative mixed-use development. Of particular interest to Georgetown, WDC has been involved in the Georgetown Park retail development, as well as the beautification of Washington Harbor. The Millers were Georgetown residents for years until this past April when they sold their Federal-style row house on N Street. The Gala Committee agreed that “We couldn’t let them leave without a proper goodbye!”
Co-Chairs Colleen Girouard and Robin Jones are making exciting changes to the evening’s program: for the first time in the history of the gala, the formal event will be followed by an After Party with dancing until 1:00 am, to be hosted and attended by the younger set of Georgetown. The evening’s entertainment will include guests serenaded by opera performers upon arrival, the DC Love Band playing dance music during cocktails and dinner, followed by celebrity DJ Adrian Loving upping the tempo and getting everyone dancing . Floral décor will once again be coordinated by Fabio Ripoli of Georgetown’s own Ultra Violet. His take on the Venetian Carnivale theme will be cutting edge.
Live auction items include a week in a luxury apartment in Florence, chance to spend three nights in Siena and view the world renowned Palio Di Siena horse race donated by Simone Bemporad at Bemporad and Associates, , the ever popular Scavenger Hunt Dinner Adventure , an opulent Four Seasons package, an Ermenegildo Zegna Made to Measure suit donated by Ermenegildo Zegna, and "Skin Is In" Men's and Women's revolutionary treatment packages donated by Dr. Tina Alster, Washington Institute for Dermatological Laser Surgery, to name a few.
The Gala’s honorary chairs are: Ambassador and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero, The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, The Honorable Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt, Senator and Mrs. Joseph Lieberman, John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University, author Kitty Kelley, and entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Ein.
Sponsors as of July 31 include: Capital Asset Management, Manhattan Construction Company, Long & Foster ~ Exclusive Affiliate of Christie’s International, Nancy Taylor Bubes of Washington Fine Properties, Clyde’s Restaurant Group, The Levy Group, Western Development Corporation, Vornado Realty Trust, Coldwell Banker Georgetown, Georgetown University Hospital, Securitas Security Services USA, Creel Printing – Digital Lizard, EagleBank, The Georgetowner, Bruce & Shelley Ross-Larson, CDI, and The Georgetown Current. Additional corporate and individual sponsorships are welcome -- see the CAG website http://www.cagtown.org/ or contact the CAG office.
Invitations will be mailed at the end of August or can be ordered online at www.cagtown.org