Magazines Unveil Holiday Decorations in Historic Rooms at Gala DC Event

More than 300 guests gathered December 7 in Washington, DC, to view 17 rooms decorated for the holiday season by six  leading consumer magazines.  The rooms that were decorated for the month are located in the Blair House (the President’s hospitality quarters for foreign leaders and dignitaries) and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms in the U.S. State Department’s Harry S. Truman Building.

Guests included magazine executives and editors, high-ranking government officials, advertisers, journalists and families of U.S. government employees serving unaccompanied tours overseas in dangerous locations.

Participating magazines included Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Mother Earth News, Natural Home, This Old House and Traditional Home.         

The “Magazine Holiday Design Showcase” is planned as an annual event and is part of an ongoing campaign to highlight the furnishing and art in both the Blair House and State Department.

The festivities kicked off early in the afternoon of December 7 when dozens of family members of government employees serving in perilous stations had private tours of the Blair House.  They had a chance to see the more than a dozen rooms that were decorated by magazines.  More guests arrived at the Blair House at 4 p.m. for the official unveiling of the rooms as a string quartet played and a small choir sang festive holiday songs.  Drinks and food were also served.     

At 5:30 guests were taken by several buses to the State Department where Secretary Hillary Clinton greeted two dozen magazines executives and editors in a private reception on the 8^th floor of the State Department.  Afterwards, the group moved to the Ben Franklin room where a packed room listened to background music by the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel Choir as well as several speeches from Nina Link, President & CEO, Magazine Publishers of America; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; Chief of Protocol Capricia Penavic Marshall; and Rosalila Mastriano, the wife of a Diplomatic Security Agent serving in Bagdad.         

Link remarked that it was appropriate that everyone was gathered in the Ben Franklin Room because he was credited with conceiving the first magazines in the country back in 1742.     

“I salute the editors in this room who have shown their flair and genius in bringing this idea to life,” Link remarked.  “A great magazine editor knows how to connect an idea to an audience, whether it’s on a page, a website, or in this case, a State Department or Blair House room.”      

“Nina, thank you for helping to make this event beautiful,” said Secretary Clinton.  “You and all of the contributing magazines, their editors, many who are here tonight, along with David Monn, the design teams have really performed an extraordinary task under very severe time constraints….  It’s the first time we’ve ever decorated these rooms and decorated the Blair House and had this very first holiday reception for unaccompanied families.”

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