Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1087553
50 CORONATION PARTY CATHERINE D. ANSPON GAZES INTO THE PAST. PHOTOGRAPHY JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON. I t was no ordinary black-tie fête when The Heritage Society revived the early-20th-century tradition of the No-Tsu-Oh festival for its gala borrowed from bygone days. The grand Mardi Gras- inspired tableau at the J.W. Marriott Houston Downtown featured a coronation ceremony, with guests costumed as notable citizens from the city's past — all to raise funds for the preservation nonprofit whose 10 historic structures in Sam Houston Park tell the story of early Houston, 1823 to 1905. THS executive director Alison Bell reigned, joined by a chair quartet of board prez Jim Furr and wife Jo and board VP Minnette Boesel and husband Peter. Chief royals crowned for the preservation court were Welcome Wilson Sr. as King Nottoc and Catherine Campbell Brock as Queen Ailongam. Festivities wrapped with a second-line parade set to the jazzy notes of the David Caceres Band, offering a salute to the original No-Tsu-Oh carnival, which was held from 1899 to 1914. TOASTING HOUSTON HISTORY: The co-chairs' children Minnette Jackson with husband Clay Jackson, and Grace Furr with husband O'Neal Furr; the honorees' families including Gary Brock, Diane and Bill Campbell, Lynn Campbell Bonham and Bill Bonham, Joanne Wilson, Anita and Welcome Wilson Jr., Cindi Wilson Ray and Sam Ray, and Lisa and Craig Wilson; Betty Chapman; former City Council Member Chris Bell, who emceed the evening for the nonprofit headed by his wife; Houston Arts Alliance's John Abodeely and husband Ed Kachinske, in from D.C.; curator and early Texas art collector Randy Tibbits; Trilla and Bob Pando (he costumed as Silver Dollar Jim West) and daughter Katy Pando as early temperance crusader Carrie Nation, wielding a hatchet; Deborah and Bill Colton; Lily and Charles Foster; Debbie McNulty, director of the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs, and her husband, artist Dean Ruck, whose collaboration with Dan Havel is on view in Sam Houston Park; Court of Appeals Justice Meg Poissant; artists Christy Karll McWhorter as a bayou goddess and Selven O'Keef Jarmon in African regalia; and yours truly as Mayor Kathy Whitmire. THE HERITAGE SOCIETY GALA BRINGS BACK NO-TSU-OH. Co-chairs Jo & Jim Furr Jillian Jopling & Peter McGillivray Anita & Welcome Wilson Jr. Clay & Minnette Jackson, co-chairs Minnette & Peter Boesel Craig & Lisa Wilson Honorees Welcome Wilson Sr. Catherine Campbell Brock Catherine D. Anspon, Selven O'Keef Jarmon Christy Karll McWhorter Alison & Chris Bell Martha Farish Oti Joanne Wilson