Mask twist to ball

Karen Meuleman, Cherie Turner and Sandy Clinton at the Healesville Midwinter Masquerade Ball. Picture: SUPPLIED.

By JESSE GRAHAM

MORE than100 Healesvillians descended on the Memo Hall in their best ball-gear and masks for a special midwinter masquerade ball.
The ball was run from 8pm on Saturday 28 June at Healesville’s Memo Hall, and was one of the biggest events to date on the Healesville 150th year calendar.
Event organiser Michelle Redman said that 143 tickets were sold for the event, where Steve Purcell’s Pearly Shells Orchestra performed three sets of swing music.
When asked how the evening panned out, Ms Redman summed it up simply: “it was a hoot!”
Ms Redman said that almost every attendee at the ball was masked, and danced the evening away happily with one another.
“(Steve Pucell’s Pearly Shells) was a great band for dancing,” she said.
“Everybody just danced, and the floor was always full of dancers.
“There was not one song where it was empty.”
Before the ball, Ms Redman said that, if the event was a success, she would like to see it become an annual drawcard event for the town.
She said she wanted to bring an annual midwinter ball to the town, and this year’s event came off of the back of Healesville’s 150th birthday celebrations.
The event was organised with Yarra Valley Arts.
For more information on other Healesville 150 events throughout the rest of the year, visit www.healesville150.org.