by Peter Hewka

The 65-th Annual Engineers’ Banquet and Ball, with presentation of Debutantes, sponsored by the Philadelphia Chapter of the Ukrainian Engineers’ Society of America, took place on Saturday, February 2, 2019, in the classically elegant and completely renovated Grand Ballroom of the Bellevue Hotel. This is without question the finest ballroom in the Philadelphia area.

Photo Caption: Debutantes and escorts at the 2019 Philadelphia Ball.
Photo credit: Marko Lonkevych

This gala event was by all measures a tremendous success!

There were over 350 guests at the Banquet, and a total of over 650 attended the Ball. The Bellevue Grand Ballroom was full to overflowing, and a second ballroom was opened to accommodate all the guests.

The Reverend Taras Lonchyna, pastor of St. Josaphat’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Trenton, NJ, opened the Gala with a prayer for Ukraine and with a blessing.

Eleven (11) lovely and talented young ladies were presented as debutantes: Natalia Buck, escorted by Pavlo Pencak; Maria Heren, escort Nicholas Santone; Ksenia Hulayev, escorted by Roman Zharovsky; Marianna Klingensmith, escort Yuri Yakymiv; Marianna Lechman, escorted by Thoma Holovatskyy; Roma Lonkevych, escort Zen Kochanowsky; Juliette Louer, escorted by Lucas Chuma; Anette Luba, escort Andrew Popadiuk; Cadence McStowe, escorted by Darius Kulchyckyj; Anastasiya Stolyarchuk, escort Roman Nagirniak; and Ksenia Tymchenko, escorted by Anton Pereklita

The debutantes and escorts were exceptionally well prepared by Halia Wirstiuk and Ania Bohachevsky Lonkevych to perform their presentation dances. Original choreography for the dances was prepared by them to the music of Richard Strauss.

Masters of Ceremonies for the Banquet and Ball were Natalia Tarasiuk and Andriy Royik.

An additional highlight of the evening was a special performance by world class concert pianist Roman Rudnytsky, of Ohio, whose granddaughter was one of the debutantes.

The outstanding success of this Gala event was made possible by the preparation and hard work of the Ball Committee, chaired by Orysia Hewka.

Music was provided by the Hrim Orchestra, from New York and Connecticut

For weeks after the Ball, social media were praising the Philadelphia Ball as the place to debut!

Next year’s Philadelphia Engineers’ Ball is scheduled for Saturday, February 1, 2020, at the same venue, the Bellevue Hotel.