More than 900 tickets sold in less than 12 hours for Black Tie's 20th anniversary dinner

In November 2003, just 112 people attended the inaugural Black Tie Affair in the Grand Ballroom of the former Vandivort Center. The $10,000 raised was divided among four LGBTQ-orientated organizations: AIDS Project of the Ozarks, The GLO Center, PROMO and FOCUS, a now defunct organization.

Two decades later, more than 900 people purchased tickets to attend this year's Springfield Black Tie, which sold out in less than 12 hours of becoming available, according to Black Tie Board of Directors Treasurer Gregg Johnson.

This year's Black Tie is a celebration of the event's 20th anniversary and the more than $1.5 million raised for area organizations that support the LGBTQ community over the past 19 years. The event is on Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center from 6 p.m. to midnight. This year's keynote speaker is Anthony Rapp, best known as Mark Cohen in the Tony Award-winning rock opera "Rent."

Organizations that will benefit from the fundraiser this year are APO, Rare Breed Youth Services, The GLO Center, the Ozarks Lesbian and Gay Archives, The Victim Center, PFLAG, Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri in Joplin, Ekklesia, FosterAdopt Connect, Men's Chorus of the Ozarks, the All-Gender Crisis Cold Weather Shelter, the Springfield Art Museum, the American Indian Center of Springfield, Missouri and Missouri State University's Multicultural Resource Center for its LGBTQ+ Gender Affirming Care Project, according to Black Tie President Jason Ray.

"It started so our four core (organizations, APO, The GLO Center, PROMO and FOCUS) didn't have to have a bake sale every week to stay open and now it shows how much programming is happening for LGBTQ people ...," Johnson said. "It's showing how we've grown as a segment of society."

An emphasis on supporting local youth

Black Tie was born out of FOCUS, a networking organization for LGBTQ professionals in Springfield. The organization was established in 1999 and maintained through the early 2000s. Randy Doennig, co-founder of Black Tie and former FOCUS member, said during the height of the organization, there were about 100 members, with 50 to 60 regulars meeting once a month at various restaurants around town.

As FOCUS grew, members decided to start a scholarship program for LGBTQ youth in southwest Missouri.

"We needed a way to fund it, so we did all the usual little ... fundraiser-type stuff and I said, 'Look, we need to have something that's an event, something that people will want to attend and the point of that event is to raise money,'" Doennig recalled.

Instead of creating an event that solely benefited the FOCUS scholarship program, the organization created a fundraising dinner that benefited several organizations in the area — think "gay United Way," Doennig said. Two of the organizations awarded money that first year, APO and The GLO Center, have benefited from Black Tie all 19 years. PROMO was awarded money each year up until 2021.

For the first few years, benefiting organizations were selected by the Black Tie board of directors. Today, organizations are selected through a grant application process. Doennig said on average, there are anywhere between eight and 10 applications submitted. This year, there were 14, the most ever received.

In 2022, PFLAG Springfield/SWMO, APO, The GLO Center, Rare Breed Youth Services, The Victim Center, Men's Chorus of the Ozarks, the Springfield Art Museum, Carbon Trace Productions, the Y.M.C.A. and the All-Gender Crisis Cold Weather Shelter received grant money from Black Tie.

Although FOCUS is no longer operational, the PFLAG Springfield/SWMO chapter is responsible for the scholarship program. Three $2,000 scholarships are awarded to LGBTQ folks in southwest Missouri pursuing higher education each year.

A positive reception that has continued to blossom

Twenty years ago, when 112 people sat inside the Grand Ballroom of the Vandivort Center, now Hotel Vandivort, Doenning said the inaugural fundraiser dinner received "no backlash at all," but it did have to overcome a "perception stigma."

"We tried to promote it in the media, but there was this inherent perception of what it was going to be," Doennig said about Black Tie. "We did have an emcee who was a drag queen, but ... we didn't have drag performances or anything like that. That's not what this is. There was stereotyping by the community about what this event was going to be, but until you come and see it for yourself, you really don't understand what it is."

In 2004, Gary Younge, a former reporter with The Guardian, made a pitstop in Springfield to report on Black Tie. At the time, Younge was driving the 2,000-plus miles from Boston to Midland, Texas, reporting on the atmosphere of the Midwest prior to the 2004 election. Doennig recalled Younge's visit fondly and said his story helped bring awareness to the local event.

It took about four years for the event "to take off" and by the six- or eight-year anniversary, almost everyone knew about Black Tie — and wanted to go, Doennig said.

As Black Tie has grown, its focus has also changed. In the beginning, Black Tie provided a party atmosphere, with about 95% of the attendees representing the LGBTQ community. Today, the event's emphasis is more on education and empowerment. Doennig said LGBTQ folks only represent a "fraction" of the event's attendees, in comparison to the straight allies in attendance.

"The vision was always to bring to the table our straight allies because there's way more of them than there are of us," Doennig said.

More: LGBT History Month was founded by a Missouri educator in 1994. Here's his story.

Support Black Tie from home

Although tickets for this year's Black Tie are already sold out (there is a waitlist available on the Black Tie website), folks can still show support from home. Donations can be made on the Black Tie website and folks can even participate in the live silent auction without being at the event in person.

Johnson said there are typically about 200 items available in the silent auction, including gift cards, artwork and gift baskets.

Supporters at home and at the event can use the free mobile app Handbid to participate in this year's silent auction. The auction goes live on Friday, Nov. 10 and closes at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. To participate, download the Handbid app, create an account and search for "Springfield Black Tie" to connect with the auction.

Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Black Tie celebrates 20 years of supporting local LGBTQ organizations