Red silk tassel earrings for registration staff
Registration staff wear red silk tassel earrings.
Fans for guests
Fans are offered to guests as they ascend the stairs at the longtime Daffodil Ball venue, Montreal's Windsor Station.
Red decor
The 600 guests begin to ascend the stairs, which feature vivid red accents.
Moon gates and foo dogs
The entrance is decorated with red moon gates and foo dogs; Chinese musicians serenade guests.
Say hello to the Oriental Pearl
The Oriental Pearl--an entertainer on stilts who sways above guests--entertains at the cocktail hour. The name harkens to the famed tower in Shanghai.
Hors d'oeuvre trays are decorated with orchids.
Guest greeting
A guest greets the Oriental Pearl.
"Daffodil Ball" in Chinese characters
The bar features the name "Daffodil Ball" in Chinese characters.
Makeup touch-up
Sponsor Giorgio Armani provides makeup touch-ups for guests.
A Great Wall of China made from parasols
A dramatic feature of the event: The “Great Wall of China”--a double-sided 40- by-12-foot wall dividing the cocktail from the dining-room, composed entirely of randomly-arranged Chinese parasols.
The parasols are red, black and white on the cocktail side, turquoise, purple and lime green on the dining-room side. Here, the view from the cocktail side.
Both sides of parasol Great Wall
A view showing both sides.
Other side of Great Wall of China
And here, the dining room side of the parasol Great Wall of China.
The change of color schemes makes a dramatic statement.
Golden lanterns
In the dining-room, 80 turquoise, purple, teal and lime green silk lanterns, of different shapes and sizes, each embossed with Chinese motifs and lit from within, hang from a long rectangular truss concealed with teal draping.
Four different centerpieces
Dining tables are 60-inch rounds with two strikingly different centerpieces and either turquoise or purple crinkled silk linens, making a total of four different table designs.
The second centerpiece style
Fourth centerpiece
And the fourth.
Black dining chairs and dishes imported from China arrived only two weeks before the Ball.
Tasselled napkin rings from China in turquoise and gold are striking with the turquoise and purple napkins.
Gold-trimmed chopsticks, gilded votives, gold charger plates and custom-made turquoise table number cards are the final touches
Chinese wall panels
Chinese wall panels in the dining room.
Teal fabric serves as decor and sound baffle
Teal fabric covering the lighting truss is not only decorative but helps muffle noise in the event space.
Long view of dining area
Long view of the dining area.
Chinese drummer
A Chinese drummer entertains guests.
Musicians entertain
Musician play the yangqin (dulcimer) and flute. This segment was deliberatly low-key to allow dinner conversation.
Note the backdrop of Chinese coin motifs.
Huayun dance troupe
The Phoenix Huayun troupe performs one of three different dances.
Second dance
A second dance from the troupe.
Huayun troupe
The third dance from the Huayun troupe.
Human Slinky
Veniamin's Human Slinky has its premiere in Canada.
This out-of-the-box, quirky and comical act from Romania has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman and at the Carnival of Rio.
Dance band in color-coordinated gowns
Montreal's top dance band takes the stage, wearing color-coordinated gowns.
Yangtze lobster
The high-end five-course menu from Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth includes this dish of Yangtze lobster in a bok choy basket with lotus and water chestnuts.
Imperial lacquered breast of duck
The entree: Imperial lacquered breast of duck with Peking pancakes and a soy-sesame twist.
A team of 70 servers, 16 bussers, eight maître d’s, 24 sommeliers and six bar captains assures top-quality service.
Selling raffle tickets
Staffer sell raffle tickets.
Al told, the Daffodil Ball net revenue was $1,260,000 U.S., bringing the total raised since the inaugural Ball in 1994 to $22.8 million.
