Beau Rivage Gala Award
In reviewing Gala entries, one hotel’s special event caught my eye: the Aug. 29 gala thrown by the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Miss. The event celebrated the resort’s reopening after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Last year, a 40-foot wave demolished the entire first floor of the 1,740-room property. All the event department’s decor, equipment and props were washed away. Yet management declared the Beau Rivage would reopen in one year to the day, and with a gala “that would surpass any other ever seen on the Gulf Coast,” Beau Rivage president George P. Corchis Jr. promised. The event department made good on his pledge with a party for 1,100 guests heralding the property’s reopening and marking the return to work of nearly 4,000 employees.
Special events are so often dismissed as nothing but pretty parties. The Beau Rivage event reminds us they are so much more.