Photography by Isaac Hernandez
The glamorous oceanfront Coral Casino at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito, California was the scene of Pacific Pride Foundation's Royal Ball, an opulent evening of entertainment, design, and dancing. Guests came from as far as New York to enjoy the company of queens and kings, dining on fine canapés from a menu created by celebrity Iron chef Cat Cora and served up by exotic butlers adorned in professional custom body paint and tight black pants. Cora served as Honorary Co-Chair along with actors Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. "American Idol" & "The Voice" star, Frenchie Davis, sang, followed by world-famous Flamenco dancer, Timo Nuñez.
Combining camp with decadence, we set the scene with a series of boutique designer showcase Royal Boxes, where honored guests and major sponsors were invited to lounge in luxury. Several designers from the west coast were invited to make their mark, with results that included eye candy for a wide range of tastes. Event sponsors were carefully matched with these designers that included S.R. Hogue, Camilla Svensson Burns, Percy Sales, Marc Normand Gelinas, NLC Productions and John Daly in opulent booths as patrons of the royal court, and they were treated to the private service of their own costumed, personal butler throughout the evening.
This event merged with a designer showcase allowed the nonprofit Pacific Pride Foundation to afford the highest quality of design and diversity for the event while allowing designers to present their latest concepts to a captive community of over 400 guests. This event has quickly earned the reputation as "The event of the year" in Santa Barbara!
"One of the most creative, colorful and fun parties I've been to in five years of covering events in our rarefied enclave. Merryl Brown Events made Fellini look positively mundane!"
—Richard Mineards, Montecito Journal columnist