By Jim Knippenberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Scott Atkinson displays the type of flower arrangement to be used at the Taft gala tonight. (Brandi Stafford photo)

It's the hottest ticket in town. It's also the glitziest, the most eagerly awaited, toniest guest list and, more than likely, the one people will talk about for months to come.

Tonight's gala party to celebrate Saturday's public reopening of the Taft Museum of Art after its $22.8 million, two-year renovation is a $500-a-ticket black tie/ball gown party. It's the kind where you haul out the safety-deposit-box jewels. Not only will the party celebrate the historic home's face-lift, but it will raise money for the museum's annual operating fund.

It didn't take long after the 1,800 invitations went out the first week of April for the party to sell out at 420 attendees - and that makes co-chair Kate Lawrence very happy. "When we started talking about this in earnest in early March we thought we'd get 300 people, maybe 350. But this, the response has been just wonderful."

And enthusiastic: Saks Fifth Avenue general manager Ina Levinson has seen a stream of people heading to the evening gown department for the past several weeks, making a beeline for gowns by big name designers Carmen Mark Valvo, Craig Signer, Melinda Eng and Bill Hamilton. Lots of silk, lots of exotic fabrics, lots of color. This isn't a little black dress party.

IF YOU GO

What: Taft Museum of Art Where: 316 Pike St., downtown Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays. Admission: $7 adults (includes parking); $5 students/seniors; 18 and under free; free on Wednesday and Sunday Information: 241-0343, www.taftmuseum.org

SPECIAL SECTION

• Taft Museum reopening

"The theme that's emerging with the dresses people are buying is elegant, short cocktail dresses," she said. "We've been waiting two years for this party so you know people are shopping."

Getting done up, too. Saks' salon is bracing for a busy day today, mostly hair, but they're expecting a few makeup jobs at the last minute.

Ditto for Kathy Eilerman, general manager of Phyllis at the Madison. "Oh yes, it's a busy, busy Thursday, most of it early and midafternoon. It's mostly hair and nails, but it looks like quite a bit of makeup, too. And as always, we'll have some last-minute walk-ins."

Not just any walk-ins. Just take a look at the crowd. You'll find the bosses of just about every big corporation in town, including Budig Group CEO Otto Budig Jr., Cinergy VP Joe Hale, American Financial exec Sandy Heimann, Cincinnati Art Museum director Timothy Rub, former P&G chairman John Smale and many more.

That's not including some of Cincinnati's oldest and most familiar family names, such as philanthropists Joni Herschede and Harry and Linda Fath, U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Terrace Park) and wife Jane, baseball magnate and President Bush confidante William O. DeWitt Jr., arts patrons Melody Sawyer Richardson and Lois and Richard Rosenthal.

And then there are the descendants of Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft, the couple who deeded the house to the city in 1929, so it could reopen as a museum in 1932.

Kate Lawrence is a Taft through marriage - husband Bobby is the great-great-grandson of Charles and Anna (as is brother Tad, who will also be there with wife Sue). Bobby is also current president of the Taft board. Other descendants headed for Pike Street tonight include Dudley and Tina Taft, along with Dudley's sister Nellie Taft, the children of Taft Broadcasting founder Hulbert "Hub" Taft; Bobby's parents, John and Ann Lawrence (although everyone calls her Pants and him Jock); and Denny T. Young, daughter to Margo Tytus, sister of Hulbert Taft.

What they and the other guests are going to discover is that Lawrence, other gala co-chairs Eileen Barrett and Rhonda Sheakley have left nothing to chance. Sheakley is an experienced fund-raiser - she chaired the $500-a-ticket gala that opened the Cincinnati Art Museum's Cincinnati Wing - and wife of Larry, a Taft board member. Barrett is also an experienced fund-raiser - she and Sheakley co-chaired last fall's Masked Opera Ball - and her husband John is also on the board. The three chairs and the rest of the 42-person committe have been talking for several months and meeting consistently since early March.

David Murphy, CEO of Camargo Rentals, is handling the 12,000-square-foot custom-engineered tent designed to withstand wet weather and, yes, even cicadas. This is its first outing, though it wasn't designed specifically for this event. "We're prepared for anything. If it's bad weather or if the cicadas are here, we have sides that roll down, but still let in the air. But no bugs."

The tent, with a wooden floor that conforms to the shape of the ground and stretches 130 feet down the street, sprawls from the front of the Taft, across Pike Street (closed since Tuesday night) and into the eastern end of Lytle Park. The entire top is clear for stargazers, and the back will be left open so guests can dine and dance while looking at the museum's facade.

"It's set up so you feel like you're sitting on the Taft front porch," Murphy said. "We're lighting the facade as brightly as we can, so it will be lit up like the White House. That way, guests can dine and dance and enjoy that spectacular view all night."

They'll dance to the music of New York's nine-piece Michael Carney Orchestra as they feast on food from Madiera's La Petite Pierre.

According to La Petite Pierre co-owner Michele Vollman, guests will be greeted with champagne, then duck rilletts (duck-filled puff pastry), rosemary parmesan cheese puffs, ahi tuna tartar and assorted canape during the cocktail hour. That's followed by the main course: Grilled black bean salmon, beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce and orange blossom orzo with spring vegetables.

The tables will be set with white china and celery green linens and topped with 15-inch silver candlesticks and low silver bowls full of pink peonies and pink and white roses arranged by Scott Atkinson of Ivy Floral and Event Designers of Madeira.

"The committee selected the colors, and they really do add up to a beautiful spring theme. Very floral and very subtle, but truly beautiful," Atkinson said.

"I'm just so impressed with everyone we've worked with since we started getting down to details," Lawrence said. "They've all been so ready and willing. The city council and the Park Board have been wonderful about us closing Pike Street and taking over the park."

Email jknippenberg@enquirer.com