The major donor evening celebrating the opening of the new visitors center at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens was just the kind of soirée that the late Miss Ima Hogg would have loved.

There was classical music performed by a string quartet. There was a lovely dinner provided by City Kitchen, tables graced with silver bowls of roses. And there was a coterie of generous Bayou Bend supporters who would have surely been invited to dine at Miss Ima's table.

Jeanie Kilroy, for whom the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitors and Education Center is named thanks to a serious contribution, had in fact dined with the renowned collector of American antiques in the John Staub-designed home that today serves as a house museum of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Miss Ima, as the late philanthropist is affectionately referred to today, long ago intended for the property at the corner of Westcott and Memorial Drive to be the location of the center that welcomed visitors to her historic home and bountiful gardens. Many among the 170 guests sitting down in an air-conditioned party tent adjacent to the new center had helped raise the $23 million required to make her dream a reality.

Included among the biggies were Kitty King Powell, the Brown Foundation, Michelle and Frank Hevrdejs, Carole and Ken Bailey, Bobbie and John Nau, Alice Simkins, Lacy Crain and Joe Galloway, Houston Endowment, the Joe Barnhart Foundation and the Temple Foundation. Taking bows for their role as Bayou Bend campaign chair and co-chair were Pam Ott and Nancy Abendshein, respectively.

During the short program, Bayou Bend director Bonnie Campbell, MFAH director Peter Marzio, MFAH board chair Cornelia Long and MFAH associate director Willard Holmes each took their stand at the podium thanking donors as did Leslie Elkins Sasser, who designed the LEED-Silver certified contemporary building.

Many in the gathering had played key roles in fostering the project including McDugald-Steele's Erik Hanson, Houston Parks and Recreation Department director Joe Turner and Larry Burns of Kendall/Heaton Architects.

The notable crowd savoring the candlelight dinner included Susan and Mel Glasscock, Linda and Dr. Walter McReynolds, Elise and Russell Joseph, Barbara and Corby Robertson, Joanna and Rusty Wortham, Ann Bookout, Laurie Morian, Janice and Bob McNair, Bayou Bend curator Michael Brown and David Warren, long-time Bayou Bend director and personal friend Miss Ima Hogg.

The new visitor's center gets its public unveiling from 1-5 p.m. Saturday with an event that includes performances, colonial-era games and music.