The Jewel Ball is the main annual debutante

Debutante

A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...

 ball held in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is organized by the Jewel Ball Foundation, which appoints a prominent Kansas City socialite to be the chairwoman. In 2007, it was held on June 9.

Predecessor: The Priests of Pallas

Beginning in 1887, partially in response to the establishment of St. Louis's

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 popular annual Veiled Prophet Fair

Fair Saint Louis

Established in 1878 and reconstituted in 1981, the Veiled Profit Fair, nominally the Fair Saint Louis starting in in 1992, is an annual festival held during the July 4 holiday in downtown St. Louis, Missouri at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. Some call it "America's largest birthday party"...

 and Veiled Prophet Ball

Veiled Prophet Ball

The Veiled Prophet Ball is a dance held each December in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, by a secret society named the "Veiled Prophet Organization" , first founded by prominent St. Louisans in 1878, and originally part of the Veiled Prophet Fair , which today is Fair St. Louis...

 in 1878, Kansas City held an annual harvest-time, Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

-style festival called the "Priests of Pallas". It consisted of a public parade and an invitation-only debutante ball (the "Priests of Pallas Ball"), organized by a secret society

Secret society

A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...

 of prominent Kansas Citians that called itself the Priests of Pallas. The first year, President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland

Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

 attended. Gradually, however, the public lost interest. The festival was suspended for several years beginning in 1912, began again in 1923, and ended for good in 1924.

Inception and Subsequent History

Other cities' established debutante festivities, such as St. Louis's annual Veiled Prophet Ball, however, lived on. By the 1950s, many prominent Kansas Citians believed that Kansas City again needed some sort of debutante festivities. In 1954, Clara Hockaday and Enid Kemper, prominent Kansas City social matrons, founded the Jewel Ball with help from local businessman Alfred Lighton.

Since its inception, the ball has benefited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its neoclassical architecture and extensive collection of Asian art....

 and the Kansas City Symphony

Kansas City Symphony

The Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...

. From 1954 until 2000, the ball was held in the main hall of the Nelson-Atkins. A large construction project at the museum forced a temporary move to Swope Park

Swope Park

Swope Park is an 1805-acre city park within the city of Kansas City, Missouri. It is the 29th-largest municipal park in the United States , and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a philanthropist who donated the land to the city in 1896...

's Starlight Theatre (Kansas City)

Starlight Theatre (Kansas City)

Starlight Theatre is a 7,947-seat outdoor theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, United States that stages touring Broadway shows and concerts. It is one of three remaining self-producing outdoor theatres in the U.S.-History:...

. The Jewel Ball returned to the museum in 2008.