Bring in the new year with high style, and a mask, at this formal Macon ball
Looking to end the year – and start the next – in fairytale fashion?
The Hay House offers just that with its New Year’s Eve Formal Masked Ball on Tuesday night. The ball is part of a cluster of holiday events Hay House officials call “A Fairytale Christmas at the Palace of the South.”
The Hay House has long been known as the Palace of the South but an elegant, fairy tale air has also been part and parcel since building began in 1855.
“We know Mrs. Anne Johnson, who originally built the house with her husband, William Butler Johnston, referred to it as her ‘fairy palace,’ ” said William Altman, director of collections and programs and curator of education at the Hay House — more accurately the Johnston-Felton-Hay House — which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
The Hay House is now owned, operated and undergoes restoration by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
“We have evidence showing many formal balls at the house during the 19th century and that the Johnstons were known for masquerade balls featuring great midnight breakfasts,” Altman said. “That certainly has a Disneyesque, New Year’s fairy tale quality to it that we’re emulating with our own formal, masked ball with champagne, lavish cocktails and a midnight breakfast of our own. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy the space and celebrate the New Year in true, historic Johnston fashion, recapturing the grandeur of the house and the era.”
The ball will include dancing to the Top Hat Band and is open to the public at a $125 cost per person. Reservations are required and may be available until the day of the ball. Altman said the event’s sponsors are Alterra Networks and Kudzu Seafood and that proceeds benefit the Hay House.
“And the house will still be decorated for the ball in beautiful, Christmas style,” Altman said. “Decorations should remain through the first week of the New Year then start coming down.”
Hay House Christmas decoration tours run through Tuesday. Times, cost and information regarding the Hay House, events and event rentals are on its website, www.hayhousemacon.org.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
House New Year’s Eve Formal Masked Ball
Where: The Hay House, 934 Georgia Ave.
When: 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Dec. 31
Cost: $125
Information: www.hayhousemacon.org, 478-742-8155