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It was a gala of epic proportions when the Boch Center hosted Illuminating the Future amid the rococo splendor of the Wang Theatre.

The party started with drinks and little nibbly bits in the downstairs lobby, and guests got a sneak peek at the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame. Dinner was served in the lobby and the surrounding balconies, with nonstop entertainment by the likes of William Close, playing the Earth Harp (look into it), and headliners like Livingston Taylor and Peter Yarrow, to name a mere smattering.

Present and accounted for were boldfaced names such as benefactor Ernie Boch Jr., head honchoJoe Spaulding and the flawless Joyce, one-woman Mardi Gras Susan Poduska and her dashing husband, Bill, redheaded beauty Lily Flatley and her bearded hipster, Brian, the devastatingly handsome Andrew Marconi and Ed Quinones, the startlingly gorgeous Amy Finegold, sushi slinger Jack Huang, archivist David Bieber, talent manager Ralph Jaccodine, music scribe Jim Sullivan and his stunning other half, Roza Yarchun, honoreeBetsy Siggins, unfairly attractive couple Chip and Aimee Rives, Back Bay doyenne Maureen Hailer with Mrs. Kate Farrington, music man Josh Bhatti and the lovely Stephanie, several men in light-up bow ties and one woman who said, “My dress is neoprene, so I can just go straight into the pool later.”

“That guy ought to be an auction item,” said one woman, while another said, “I wrote this song while I was lactating, which, technically, makes it a drinking song.”

Meanwhile, a woman who received a compliment on her Dolce & Gabbana handbag said, “Thanks. My stepson gave it to me,” to which someone else responded, “Where do I get stepsons who give me expensive shit?”