'Boo Ball' Bash! Night Owls and Ghoul-friends Pull Out Tricks, Treats and $800K for Ronald McDonald House

Daniel Ortiz and Jacob Power
'Boo Ball' Bash! Night Owls and Ghoul-friends Pull Out Tricks, Treats and $800K for Ronald McDonald House

Jose and Carolina Quiros

OF THE MANY festive fetes over the weekend, the annual Boo Ball benefiting Ronald McDonald Houston may have been the biggest, most spook-tacular one! More than 700 costumed partygoers descended upon the Hilton Americas ballroom, where a haunted house — complete with photo opps and bubbly — awaited.

Some of the party's most popular costumes included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce; various iterations of Barbie; and beautified vampires and witches galore. Chaired by April and Wells McGee, the evening included silent and live auctions, plus a raffle and a "Pick Your Poison" spirit pull. A bidding war broke out in competition for a wine-tastic trip to Sonoma, and a teenage beneficiary of Ronald McDonald House's services presented the night's final prize up for grabs — an adorable puppy!

After the auctions and program, emceed by Lisa Malosky and featuring remarks by organization CEO Cristina Vetrano, party band Hybrid 7 had everyone out on the dance floor, boogying the night away. The total till topped $820,000 — talk about a treat!

Wayne Chapman, Sherry Fuller

Betsy and Elliott Hirshfeld, Matt and Melinda Mogas

Cari and Steve Greenley

Wade Upton and Flo McGee

Cristina Vetrano, Wells and April McGee, Dan Connally

Vicsandra Jones and Melissa Juneau

Diane and John Tully

Seth and Emma Elsenbrook, Kate Archer, Evan Elsenbrook

John and Diane Riley, Lizabeth and Tom Riley

Kaely Suarez with puppy

Ryan and Iryns Herbst

Patty and Greg Glasscock

Michael and Angela White

Ken and Mady Kades

Kristen Cannon, Faith Majors


Parties

Mwenso Carnegie Squad

WITH SUMMER FAR from over, DACAMERA continues to roll out some of the hottest musical programming to be enjoyed here — and anywhere else in the South for that matter — with Houston SUMMERJAZZ 2023 (Aug. 17-20). The series highlights the breadth of contemporary jazz, with nods to the music’s Cuban, pan-African, funk, pop, and soul connections. This year’s festival includes performances by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Aug. 17), vocalist Gretchen Parlato in her first Houston appearance (Aug. 18), and crowd-pleasing global artists Mwenso & The Shakes (Aug. 19), whose members come from Sierra Leone, London, South Africa, Greenwich Village, Madagascar, France, Jamaica and Hawaii. (Jazz is, indeed, “global” music.) All Houston SUMMERJAZZ concerts take place in the Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater.

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Art + Entertainment

BEGINNING THIS THURSDAY, Aug. 17, DACAMERA’s Houston SUMMERJAZZ festival presents a concise, three-night program of jazz in a myriad of contemporary forms, with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Aug. 17) illuminating its historical connections to Cuba and Puerto Rico, and internationalists Mwenso and The Shakes (Aug. 19) extolling the music’s pan-African, funk, and pop potential. In between those two hits, on Friday, Aug. 18, all of these tributaries and more will be explored in a set by two-time Grammy-nominated vocalist Gretchen Parlato, making her first appearance in Houston.

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Art + Entertainment