A 1920s-theme gala will kick off the newest art exhibit in Irving, Spirited: Prohibition in America.
The “Rum Runners and Rug Cutters” party will feature live music from The Suitcase Trio, hors d’oeuvres, dancing and a charity raffle.
Attendees are encouraged to wear 1920s attire, and the password for entry is “white lightning.” Tickets are $75 per person, and attendees must be at least 21 years old.
The party is at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, at Irving Archives and Museum, 801 W. Irving Blvd. Spirited: Prohibition in America will open Saturday at the museum.
The exhibit explores the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed the manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol, and the 13 years that followed before the repeal of the amendment in 1933, including historic figures like Al Capone and Carrie Nation.
“The morality and illegalization of liquor split American opinion and created a subculture of rampant criminality,” the exhibit’s website says. “Organized crime grew from localized enterprises to a national network for manufacturing, distribution, and sales of alcohol.”
Interactive elements will show visitors how bootleggers used transportation networks and disguises to run liquor from state to state, and how speakeasies gave way to the popularization of jazz and the Charleston dance craze.
The exhibit is part of the National Endowment for Humanities’ On the Road program.
Presented by the Dallas Morning News.
