Return with Rush to the World’s Fair | Classic Chicago Magazine

By Judy Carmack Bross

Co-Chairs Kerri Schoonyoung and Meg Leydon

Which invitation would you choose if you could attend one historical Chicago formal occasion?

Many might choose a glittering Golden Age evening celebrating the World’s Columbian Exposition at the hotel Potter Palmer created as a wedding present for his wife Bertha. The Woman’s Board of Rush University Medical Center has chosen to re-create such a night, at what is now the Palmer House Hilton, on September 28 for its annual Fall Benefit, entitled “A Night in the White City.” The Fall Benefit will celebrate RUSH as a leader in healthcare innovation, a theme that will surely be emphasized by the event’s location in the historic hotel that was, among other things, the first to incorporate the light bulb, elevator, and the telephone and to serve the first brownie.

“The idea of innovation seemed a natural fit for our event,” Co-Chair Meg Leydon said. “In addition to the Palmer House innovations, the World’s Fair produced many of its own including the Ferris wheel, moving sidewalks, zippers and the Chicago-style dog to name a few. RUSH is known for breakthrough large scale advances, studies and clinical trials, bringing together many innovations all in one place.”

“The evening will also be a celebration of the extraordinary impact we can make together, much in the way people from across Chicago came together to produce the World’s Fair and showcase how much this city could and did overcome after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871,” Co-Chair Kerri Schoonyoung told us. “This event supports The Woman’s Board Endowed Fund for Research and Clinical Trials at RUSH, which will propel RUSH’s groundbreaking medical research across the continuum — from promising, early-stage pilot initiatives to create transformative changes, saving lives in Chicago and across the globe.”

Co-Chairs Kerri Schoonyoung and Meg Leydon with Woman’s Board President Wendy Herb

Earlier this year, Rush University System for Health announced a partnership with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to create RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center, which will provide RUSH patients with greater access to cancer treatments and research considered among the best in the world.

Leydon has been on The Woman’s Board for eight years and chaired the Cancer Treatment Committee, which raised funds for breast imaging and caregiving items such as blanket heaters that help patients during chemotherapy.

“When you think of innovations in cancer treatment, you probably think of new medicines or radiation technology. Which is of course vitally important,” said Leydon. “But, through The Woman’s Board, we’ve had the opportunity to talk directly with doctors and nurses who are treating these patients and, from them, to understand that ‘little things’ like comfortable treatment rooms and warm blankets can also be vitally important for the patients. I’m really grateful to The Woman’s Board for providing opportunities to serve the hospital in many different ways, from planning these huge fundraising events to zeroing in on seemingly small changes that can have a huge impact on patient experience.”

The eighth of The Woman’s Board’s Fall Benefits and the first to be a black-tie gala, “A Night in the White City” will transport guests back to the traditional elegance of the hotel in the days of Bertha and Potter Palmer. Bertha reflected her French heritage and her extensive travels to collect Impressionist art in Paris when she decorated her wedding present. The hotel’s gala parties during the World’s Fair of 1893 would have seen guests celebrating under enormous crystal chandeliers and a breathtaking ceiling fresco by French painter Louis Pierre Rigal, with Louis Comfort Tiffany masterpieces throughout.

The Fall Benefit’s event décor, which will draw inspiration from possibly Chicago’s most defining celebration, will be designed by The Shy Flower, a woman-owned florist and event business in Winnetka. The invitation, below, was designed by Woman’s Board member Paige Spearin, an illustrator and print designer for Lilly Pulitzer.

Fall Benefit 2024 invitation cover – designed by Paige Spearin

Schoonyoung, who is from the East Coast and once lived on Prince Edward Island, and Leydon, a Georgia native, both are fascinated by the elegance of the Gilded Age and have added touches to the evening, including of course the brownie, which will be included in the swag bags for guests that night. Working together for months on the gala, the co-chairs said that they have developed a shorthand of communication.

“Flower-filled Ferris wheels, a mentalist during cocktail hour—something very much ‘the thing’ at the time—and bikes are all a part of our tribute to the White City. We wanted it to be an elegant and vibrant event without making it seem like a carnival,” Schoonyoung said.

Brad and Megan Smith at the 2023 Fall Benefit

The Co-Chairs will also be hosting a shopping event at Veronica Beard, 11 E. Walton, on Thursday, September 12, in which Veronica Beard will be donating 15 percent of sales to the Fall Benefit’s fundraising efforts.

We include past Fall Benefit photos below and congratulate The Woman’s Board, one of our City’s oldest, on its incredible efforts at raising significant funds and awareness about RUSH.