KNOXVILLE, TN – The Knoxville Museum of Art’s primary annual fundraising event, L’Amour du Vin, was held for the 13th year March 5 despite the untimely death of Sam Beall, owner of food and wine sponsor Blackberry Farm, less than two weeks before the event. Beall, 39, grew up on his parents’ 4,200-acre farm and took over its management in 2002. The museum credited Beall and his team for taking the fundraising auction and dinner from a “nice, catered event” to “an amazing food and wine experience” after getting involved in 2006. Beall, 39, died Feb. 25 in a ski accident at Beaver Creek, CO. Bandit donated the lighting package for the wine auction and dinner, including GRNLite LED pars, Vari*Lite VL2500 Spots, ETC LED Lekos and Chauvet Freedom Par Quad-4 fixtures.
More details from Bandit (www.BanditLites.com):
“Bandit Lites has been involved with L’Amour du Vin since its inception 13 years ago,” said Bandit’s Director of Philanthropy Allison Burchett. “This year was unlike any other. The tragic, untimely death of Blackberry Farm’s Sam Beall was evident in the hearts and minds of every guest. Rather than canceling the event, Sam’s staff did exactly what he would have wanted: Celebrated his life, by celebrating food, wine, and art and how Sam inspired us all in his 39 years.”
Bandit donated the lighting package for the opulent evening, bringing illumination to the night sky theme. GRNLite LED pars washed the tent with soothing interstellar shades, brightened the façade of the building’s exterior, provided truss toners with truss socks within the tent, in addition to lighting the columns of the Great Hall, lobby walls and the sponsored Lexus vehicles.
“Carla Paré, KMA’s Manager of Major Events and Special Projects, wanted the large aluminum beams in the structure of the tent to disappear, so Bandit came up with the idea of hanging Spandex sails in a pattern to cover and breakup the tent top, as well as to provide a nice clean surface to put breakup patterns and colors on,” said Knoxville General Manager Giff Swart.
VL 2500 Spots and ETC LED Lekos with star and galaxy gobos scattered patterns across top of the tent along the sails, while Chauvet Freedom Par Quad-4 lit the walls of the tent. Bandit’s team for the evening consisted of Chuck Hastings and Shaun Beaulieu.
“Bandit was honored to be part of the tribute; white sails were a background for the blue skies and white clouds on lovely spring day at Blackberry, and the clear beautiful night sky is something that can only be seen from somewhere as pure and tranquil as Blackberry Farm,” added Burchett. “Rest in Peace, friend. It has been an honor to work together to bring some of the biggest names in music to your stage. Our lives will never be the same without you, but our lives will always be better because of you.” –Your Bandit Family
