May 15, 2006

JMC Charleston Creates Décor for “A Night in the Valley” Trident Technical College’s Annual Gala

For Immediate Release
Contact: Barbara P. Heddinger
843.795.1420
barbara@heddinger.ws

On January 19, 2007 the foyer and ballroom of Trident Technical College will be transformed from ‘new age’ to ‘old world’ when J. Mitchell Crosby and the staff of JMC Charleston, work their magic for “A Night in the Valley” Vintners Dinner and Auction. Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of South Carolina and the Trident Technical College Foundation, the event has grown to be one of Charleston’s premier wine and culinary events benefiting the College’s Foundation, the Patrick Ringwald Memorial Garden Fund, and the Culinary Institute of Charleston.
Event Producer Mitchell Crosby, who is a member of the Advisory Board of the Culinary Institute of Charleston at the College, has chosen a classical perspective for the party. “A Night in the Valley” will depict an Old World Party where friends and family gather with guests to partake of great food and wine, as in a grand vineyard of Europe. This year’s theme will transport guest into a place of old world elegance and ambiance,” says Crosby.

A large European fountain will be the gathering place for guests during the cocktail hour in the central reception area. Purchased originally for the Gala dinner of Spoleto’s production of Wagner’s classic “Parsifal”, this central focal point will be a highlight of the reception. The entrance to the College modern, sterile exterior will be softened with park benches, iron lamp posts, shrubs and pine straw for the evening, “as if one were strolling through one of the royal parks in Madrid after a delightful dinner” enthuses Crosby.

Dinner guests will enjoy seven screens surrounding the ballroom, offering sepia tinted photographs selected by Crosby especially for the evening. Classic winter scenes of Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Rome slowly fade and reappear throughout the evening in ‘French Art Deco’ frames.

Tables dressed in bengaline linens in alternating colors of champagne and cabernet will give guests a sense of rich and luxurious dining accented by alternating floral arrangements. Crosby asked the students of the College Horticulture Department to help by growing masses of bulbs to be used on many of the tables, with a winter park theme of barren red dogwood branches as central focal points on others. Guests will enjoy an elegant four-course dinner prepared and served by Culinary Institute of Charleston students while sampling fine wines from around the world.

Illumination is a signature of JMC Charleston; so of course, specialty lighting will be used to transform the stark ballroom space into a suspended state of dusk.

During dinner, Douglas Warner and ABC newscaster Tom Crawford will man the lively auction, featuring items that include rare and allocated wines, jewelry, fine art, fabulous vacation packages, meals by local celebrity chefs and more.

To learn more about the event and auction, see www.tridenttech.edu/wine_auctionlist.htm.