Past, Future Honored in Revelries

It proved something of a stretch, but the 700 revelers in Balboa Park’s Federal Building managed to adapt to the unusual demands and hard choices presented them on New Year’s Eve by the Diamond Jubilee Planning Committee.

Aided perhaps by the creamed meatballs on the buffets, and by the silly balloon hats that many wore in lieu of 1960s hairdos, the guests adjusted with equanimity to the committee’s demand that they assume Janus-like stances as midnight approached.

Displaying faith in the future and affection for the past, the 700 simultaneously turned welcoming faces to the new decade while peering over their shoulders at the events of New Year’s Eve, 1914. It looked easy enough, even with the distraction caused by the thousand balloons that cascaded from the building’s rafters.

Balboa Park district manager Penny Scott took responsibility for her guests’ timely contortions.

“The Diamond Jubilee was my idea,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m going to regret it, but a year ago I thought it would be fun to invite all the organizations in the park to join in a celebration, and here we are.”

Among organizations assisting were the Spreckels Organ Society, the Museum of Man, the House of Pacific Relations and the House of Hospitality. Supporters of these and other park groups turned out in everything from black tie and beaded gowns to slacks and sensible shoes.

The event opened the city’s yearlong celebration of Balboa Park, which was dedicated in 1868 but became the park we know today with the opening of the Panama-California Exposition in 1915.

At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, 1914, the exposition opened when President Woodrow Wilson pushed a button in Washington that, rather astoundingly for the time, switched on the lights in Balboa Park. Because of the historical significance of the exposition, the observance of a diamond jubilee seemed appropriate to many Balboa Park supporters.

The partial re-creation of the exposition’s lighting ceremony forced party-goers to choose between the warmth, the Big Band-style orchestra and the fun of the midnight countdown in the Federal Building, and the chill of the outdoors at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. However, as midnight neared, many trooped over to the pavilion for a brief organ concert followed at the stroke of 12 by a Champagne toast as a diamond-shaped light display was illuminated.

Former mayor Frank Curran and Councilman Bob Filner jointly manned the switch that lighted the Diamond Jubilee symbol.

Pundits may argue about what really tipped the scale in the Holiday Bowl stand-off between Penn State and Brigham Young University, but it’s just possible that the answer is recorded in the table chart from last Wednesday’s Poinsettia Ball. Penn State booked three tables, while BYU reserved just two.

Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno and Cougar coach LaVell Edwards squared off under friendly circumstances at the Poinsettia Ball, given for about 540 football-mad guests in the Marina Ballroom at the San Diego Marriott. Athletic directors from a number of state universities flew in for the party--and the game, of course--and were greeted fraternally by San Diego State University athletic director Fred Miller, who announced early in the evening his intention to enjoy the gala to the fullest.

Speaking with great conviction, Miller said: “I’m here to have a good time. I’m a party animal, and when it’s time for a party, I say party. The Poinsettia Ball is always a good one.”

For a lot of football fans, the Poinsettia is the only ball in town. Wednesday’s was the 12th annual gala prelude to the game, but unlike its predecessors, its theme came from the stadium activities rather than from the crimson flowering plant for which it is named.

Ball chairman Michael Casinelli, who chaired the half-time festivities at the Holiday Bowls in 1986, ’87 and ‘88, said, “We’ve been trying to get this party closer to the Bowl itself, so we borrowed the “Under the Big Top” theme that will be used at half-time at the game.

“This is the gala event of the year anywhere, or at least of the holiday season in San Diego,” Casinelli added in a teasing tone. “At most fund-raisers, you eat and dance and go home. We want our guests to still be talking about this ball two weeks from now.”

Casinelli stands some chance of getting his wish, since the 1989 Poinsettia Ball did set something of a record for imagination and fun. Previous balls have limited their decor and theme to the hundreds of poinsettias displayed everywhere around the ballroom, and this party did use 300 of them, donated as always by poinsettia emperor Paul Ecke.

But the event also had a thoroughly clever circus theme that actually seated guests under the frameworks of big-top tents and entertained them with a small army of clowns and performers. A popcorn cart stationed in the foyer for the cocktail reception did a brisk business while a nearby fire-eater caused nervous guests to hide their drinks behind their backs.

The Barry Cole Orchestra played during dinner and offered up the circus theme, “The March of the Gladiators,” when a procession of waiters warily brought in the first course, a princess salad. But even so the dinner was hearty, and the training-table-style meal included beef filet, lamb chop and swordfish steak, followed by desserts of molded chocolate elephants holding parasols with their trunks.

“This is something!” exclaimed University of New Mexico athletic director Gary Ness as he dug into his posing pachyderm.

The Raspyni Brothers brought their act to the ball as a sneak preview of the Holiday Bowl’s half-time attractions, but the three-ring circus really swung into action when Lil’ Elmo and The Cosmos took the stage. They played ‘50s rock ‘n roll for a crowd that had been waiting all night to hear it, and the dance floor jammed faster than a stadium concession stand during a time-out.