Maplewood Firm Caters for Governor's Ball

Laurence Craig Distinctive Celebrations, based in Maplewood,  catered the Governor's Ball at Liberty Hall Museum, Kean University on Monday, April 29.

Governor Chris Christie served as Honorary Chairman of the event, with a number of New Jersey’s former governors expected to attend. The Governors’ Ball was Governor Christie’s first visit to Liberty Hall Museum, the former home of New Jersey’s first elected governor, William Livingston, and six successive generations of the prominent Livingston and Kean families. 

Billed as an elegant evening of dinner and dancing under the stars, the Governors’ Ball was the first major fundraising event of a larger campaign to benefit the preservation and sustainability of Liberty Hall Museum, which encompasses twenty-three acres of manicured grounds, and houses extensive collections of antique furniture, ceramics, textiles, toys and tools owned by seven generations of the Livingston and Kean families. The Ball took place in Liberty Hall’s fabled English gardens, and feature music by a grand orchestra.  Celebrating “the best of New Jersey” and highlighting the unique creativity and talents of residents of the Garden State, organizers of the Ball pledged to exclusively employ in-state vendors for the planning and production of the event, with ingredients for the much-anticipated dinner menu sourced from area farms, including Liberty Hall. 

Craig has served as a special guest expert on both cuisine and style for the popular television series, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. 

Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University chronicles more than 240 years of American history. The Firehouse Museum, built in 2004, houses three antique fire engines, including a rare 1911 American LaFrance Metropolitan Steam Engine. Public tours of the Museum are available Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Tours begin on the hour (last tour departs at 3:00 p.m.), and are conducted by the Museum’s friendly and knowledgeable staff in exquisite reproduction clothing from the early-20th century era. Admission is $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for Kean alumni; $6.00 for children, college students, and seniors; and free for Kean students and faculty.