Chase Creative Unlimited - Event Staging and Audio/Visual Services

Chase Creative uses weather balloons to create “harmony” at Saint Mary’s gala

The food can be delicious, the music can be great, but everyone knows that if the atmosphere at an event isn’t alive, the entire event can feel dead. When Chase Creative Unlimited was contracted to stage the Saint Mary’s Hospital annual gala that took place Saturday, November 5, 2005 at Meijer’s Botanical Gardens, they were faced with the challenge of creating the appropriate ambiance while adding some unique creative twists.

There was a great deal of effort put into bringing three key elements together for the gala, the first being the theme, “harmony.” The second element was Saint Mary’s Hauenstein Parkinson’s Center which was the focus for the gala, and the third was the hospital’s motto: “Expect something more.”

Saint Mary’s wanted all of these components seamlessly melded together to create a unique experience for their guests. “We were looking for different things that people wouldn’t expect to be put together,” said Keri Larsen, event planner for Saint Mary’s. In order to do just that, Chase Creative added some very unique, very impressionable, items: weather balloons.

Sixteen weather balloons hung in the main ballroom of the Botanical Gardens, ranging from three feet to ten feet in diameter. The most impressive part was not just the balloons themselves, but what was projected onto them.

Jim Steurnagel, technical director for the event, brought the creative design to life by projecting video of key messaging statements for the Hauenstein Parkinson’s Center on the three larger balloons. While guests mingled at the gala they could read the important phrases that were on the balloons just above their heads.

The smaller balloons were used to display a light projected custom gobo pattern as well as colors and shapes that were replicated from the invitation to compliment the flowers and linens.

“Once the balloons were hit with the projected image, the surface absorbed all the light so it appeared as if they were illuminated from within.” said Ben Ferguson, president of Chase Creative. “When we saw the round invitation design and that the theme was ‘harmony,’ we thought the weather balloons would be perfect in that they would fill the room with warm colors and create a unique experience.”

And it certainly was. This year’s gala was completely sold out and the atmosphere created by the weather balloons and the projected imagery amazed all the guests. The chatter floated throughout the room all evening long.

“The balloons were completely unexpected, it was like a New York lounge,” said Michelle Rabideau, director of Saint Mary’s. “[Chase Creative] knew what all the vendors planned on doing because they met with them in advance so everything worked perfectly with our theme of ‘harmony.’”

The lighting was also a large part of what brought the atmosphere to life. There were some last minute lighting requests made by Saint Mary’s, but Chase was prepared with their standard backup equipment to make it possible. As a result, the mood was enhanced.

Brad Johnson, AV director for the event, handled the client communication and the coordination between vendors, taking care to really listen to everyone’s needs. The combination of Chase Creative’s staging and the other vendors’ deliverables truly resulted in a stunning event. It isn’t often that a staging/events company meets with all the vendors, performs a needs analysis, and sees to it that the whole effect and experience really flows together seamlessly.

“Ideally, the end result should look like one company designed the entire event. It’s always a challenge to get everything and everyone to work together, and that doesn’t always happen,” said Ferguson. “You just don’t want your design to clash with all the other components. If that happens, it doesn’t matter how great or creative your design is, the overall experience will be disjointed, and could cause some technical issues during setup or on the day of the event.”

Chase Creative really pulled it off at this event because it was everything Saint Mary’s hoped for and then some. The warm, welcoming feeling, the important key messaging, the subtle and unique touches, “harmony” is really the only way to describe the entire evening.