Supporters Get Bowers Fit for a Fiesta

Forget the traditional champagne toast.

It’s going to be tequila in a shot glass for guests who attend La Fiesta at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art on Sept. 9.

The gala will christen “Visions of Guadalupe: Selections From the Museum of the Basilica de Guadalupe,” an exhibit on display at the Santa Ana museum through Dec. 31.

After a cocktail reception and starlight dinner in the museum’s tree-lined courtyard, 700 guests will toast Mexican American friendships with a squeeze of lime, a lick of salt and a splash of Cuervo Gold, say party planners.

“It’s our way of toasting the exhibit and our cultures coming together,” says Olga Niebla, co-chairwoman with Electa Anderson of the event.

Showcased at the museum will be more than 79 paintings, engravings, statues, textiles, vestments and altar pieces--”treasures seen outside of the Basilica in Mexico City for the first time,” Anderson says.

Actor Ricardo Montalban is honorary chairman of the benefit, with local social heavyweights such as Dorothy and Donald Koll, Ninetta and Gavin Herbert, Marilyn and Tom Nielsen and Art and Gaye Birtcher on the honorary committee.

To help prepare for the exhibit, Anderson and Niebla joined Patricia House, the museum’s director of development, and other museum supporters on a recent trip to Mexico City.

There, Jorge Guadarrama, director of Museo de la Basilica de Guadalupe and curator of the Bowers’ exhibit, took them on a private underground tour of the beloved 300-year-old basilica, which is closed for renovation.

“We were thrilled to see the exhibit pieces that are coming to Orange County,” Anderson says.

During their stay, the co-chairwomen carefully researched artworks that might be copied and used to decorate the dining tables at La Fiesta.

The minute the women laid eyes on an example of palmatorias-- the replicas in precious metal of the palm fronds used on Mexican altars--they knew they’d found the focal point of their centerpieces.

So, when La Fiesta guests sweep into the Bowers’ courtyard, they will see tables skirted in purple velvet and topped with silver palmatorias set in vases filled with scarlet roses.

Guests will have the option to buy the creations for $350 each, with proceeds benefiting the museum. “They will look lovely on a table or mantle at home,” Anderson says. “The roses will dry, and they will become great art pieces.”

And reminders of one of the most significant benefits to hit Orange County’s Mexican American social horizon. “This is an exciting opportunity for the Hispanic people,” Anderson says. “It is a chance for them to see their culture shine.”

Gala invitations by Tiffany & Co. will be in the mail the beginning of August. Guests will be invited to wear “black tie or festive attire to La Fiesta,” says Niebla, who plans to wear a long lace gown. Four hundred tickets at $150 each have already been sold.

About that tequila toast. Guests will toss down the golden liquid from etched crystal glasses, cristal de pepita , purchased by Niebla and Anderson in Mexico City.

And they will get to take them home.

For ticket information, call (714) 567-3634.

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Anniversary chair: Catherine Thyen of Corona del Mar, an arts activist who has served on the committees of dozens of Orange County benefits, has been named chairwoman of the gala that will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Sept. 7, 1996.

Thyen chaired the center’s most recent holiday Candlelight Concert and has volunteered to coordinate it again this year. During the coming year, about 20 events will be part of the center’s anniversary celebration, says center spokesman Gregory Patterson. But the Sept. 7 gala will be the headliner.

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Opening of Irvine Spectrum: Watch for a gala opening in mid-November of the Irvine Spectrum Entertainment Center. The 21-screen facility, an Edwards Theatres complex built on land owned by the Irvine Co., will be anchored by a six-story 3-D IMAX theater.

“We plan to open the entertainment center, get it in good running order and give charities the opportunity to raise money as part of the official gala opening,” says Michelle Bohrer, manager of sales and marketing for the Irvine Co.’s Fashion Island Newport Beach.

Patti Edwards, wife of theater President W. James Edwards III, has dreams of opening the 500-seat IMAX theater with a high-ticket charity event. But there are no plans on the drawing board.

“The IMAX is going to be amazing,” she said at a recent luncheon. “People will have to wear special glasses to get the 3-D effect. The glasses cost $350 each, and the theater will have two sets so that one [set] can be cleaned while the audience is wearing the other.”

People will have to leave the theater through a metal detector, Edwards says. Now that would be a gala first.