The World’s Largest Drill Bit and Big Energy Makes This $1.84 Million Night a Whopping Success For HMNS
A Gala Perfect For the Energy Capital of the World
BY Shelby Hodge // 03.08.24
Austin Knight the center of attention at the Houston Museum of Natural Science 'Big Energy!' gala which kicked off in Weiss Energy Hall. This HMNS night was all Big Energy. (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)
Whoa! The world’s largest tricone drill bit rotating overhead in the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) Weiss Energy Hall is astounding. Almost as wondrous as the costumes that partygoers donned in homage to the museum gala’s “Big Energy!” theme. No buttoned up black-tie gala this.
Consider museum benefactor Bobbie Nau in a wig of silver streamers, HMNS president and CEO Joel Bartsch in casual wildcatters garb, John Berger one of several gents in a pink or neon suits and all the attendees who stepped up to the Glitter Bar HTX for a sprinkling of pixie dust.
This Houston museum never fails to put the fun in fundraising and the recent “Big Energy!” gala was a whopping success not only for the $1.84 million raised by a mere 350 lucky party goers but also for the blast of merriment that resonated through the 30,000-square-foot Weiss Energy Hall. Congrats to the HMNS gala’s colorfully attired chairs Michelle and Alan Smith, appropriately co-founder, president and CEO of Rockcliff Energy LLC.
The playful cocktail start to the evening included an educational element via the exhibits and thanks to one or two of the geologists in the mix who walked friends through the hall explaining the process of finding crude and turning it into big oil, the fuel that keeps Houston humming as the energy capital of the world. Of course, the importance of renewable energy sources was also on the exhibition table.
From the Houston Museum of Natural Science entry, where guests were greeted by the out-of-this-world sounds of Demola the Violinist, to across the various levels of the sprawling museum, Blooming Gallery and The Neon Gallery created a futuristic decor saluting the HMNS exhibitions that give a nod to the next generation of energy. (Demola was provided to the evening by Gulf Coast Entertainment.)
Following the most entertaining cocktail hour, it was on to the elevators as the throng was seated for dinner across the museum where City Kitchen served another well-received meal. Dancing to the spins of DJ Kiss in the Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Hall concluded the fun.
Elizabeth Anthony
PC Seen: Susanne Bartsch, Bobbie Nau, Kristen and John Berger, Patty and T. Mark Kelly, Dr. Sippi and Ajay Khurana, Carolyn and Jake Sabat, Jennifer and Wil VanLoh, Isabel and Danny David, Carolyn and Garry Tanner, Ron Neal, Caroline and Jack Williams, Monica and Fox Benton, Cornelius Dupré, Aimee and Wynne Snoots, Denise and David Baggett, Amanda and Josh Weber, Liane and Marty Phillips, and Marianne and Neil Duffin.
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