Today we’d like to introduce you to Ron Porter.
Porter, owner of Magical Events, has entertained audiences as a close-up magician for most of his life, including performances at the world famous Magic Castle in Hollywood.
Over the years, his clients would ask if he knew of quality entertainers in other areas including music and the variety arts; of course, he did and this led to producing and providing a wide range of entertainment for special events throughout Southern California.
Porter’s big break occurred in 1989, when he was asked to provide the local entertainment for Fashion Island’s Grand Re-opening in Newport Beach. All of the talent Porter brought in was extended for several weeks and Magical Events was born.
The success of this event led to many years producing grand opening entertainment and holiday events for shopping centers across the western United States, including Tree Lighting events featuring headline artists including Taylor Swift and John Secada, rising-stars from America’s Got Talent, American Idol and Survivor, as well as custom-written and produced events designed especially for the clients.
Magical Events is not only focused on the shopping center industry. Some of its longest term clients include country clubs, corporations and exclusive private parties. Magical events have produced entertainment for team-building events, company picnics, holiday events, trade shows, festivals and more.
Porter has been involved in providing entertainment for high school grad nights for over 25 years. Grad nights provide a safe and sober atmosphere for graduates to celebrate all night long. Whether their event is on campus or at an off-site location, grad night committees call on Porter year after year as they know that Magical Events’ entertainers are reliable, high-quality and appropriate for the high-school audience. The focus is to get the grads involved in the fun with a variety of interactive performers that includes strolling magicians, DJs, hypnotists, fortune tellers, handwriting analysts, jugglers, caricature artists, face painters and more.
Porter’s first love is still close-up magic and he performs whenever he can. He simply cannot get away from the joy and amazement created when magic literally happens in his spectator’s hands. Whether at a private party, a large corporate function, or surprising players tableside at a casino night, Porter has as much fun as his audiences.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For the most part, Magical Events has always had a loyal client base. We have been fortunate to work with the same country clubs for well over a dozen years and some of our grad nights for over 25 years, and go the extra mile to make sure both the clients and their guest have a memorable time.
When the recession hit in 2008, Magical Events felt the challenges like everyone else.
Even companies who were doing well felt it was in poor taste to flaunt their success with large events, so things were scaled back and we focused on more intimate and personal gatherings.
For some events, we had to make last minute adjustments. At a ribbon-cutting for a shopping center, we had to move the entire event in less than an hour because the cement hadn’t dried.
During the holiday season, we received a call the week of an event that the company had just laid off about a dozen employees. To our surprise, all of these employees showed up at the event, sitting together at a table in the center of the room. Fortunately, we had a fantastic band on the event, that did an unplugged set during dinner, strolling from table to table.
When they got to the table of ex-employees, they performed a hilarious sing-along version of “Take This Job and Shove It.” Everyone laughed and the tension in the room vanished.
For large events, the challenges are unique depending on venue, types of entertainment we are bringing in, how much time we have to set up and take down, and, of course, the particular goals of our clients. We’ve pulled off huge outdoor grand openings in pouring rain, and tree lighting events when the attendance exceeded 7000 people. We’ve magically produced Santa Claus on a stage surrounded by over 10,000 guests who had no idea where he came from. By the way, in rehearsal we found out that Santa was claustrophobic and hiding in confined spaces wasn’t his idea of fun . . . but that’s another story.
The key to our success has been an incredible team of talented artists, performers, show directors, musicians and choreographers, as well as detail-oriented project managers who make things look easy, think quick on their feet, fix problems before they happen and make the adjustments necessary to create a truly Magical Event.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Magical Events – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Magical Events provides quality entertainment for special events. Each of our projects involves detailed interactions with our client to make sure we understand their goals for the event, the clientele that will be attending, the budget allocated and the types of entertainment they are looking for.
There are so many things I am proud of as an owner of the company. I have clients that have called on us for over twenty years and creative performers and artists who have also been featured at our events since we started. It is always so rewarding to have guests comment that we are like a part of their family and to receive greetings that “it’s great to have you back again this year.” We have worked hard to find entertainers who love to interact with their audience and keep their acts fresh and fun.
When I first started entertaining, my mom who was a June Taylor dancer in the early days of Las Vegas and toured with Jackie Gleason, gave me one piece of advice, “Get your audience involved in the performance.” I guess this is what sets Magical Events apart from anyone else. Our focus and goal at every event is to have our audience members feel as if we are performing just for them and creating memories that they will talk about for years to come.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Magical Events has had the good fortune to entertain audiences of over 7000 and intimate groups of less than a dozen. Recently, we have been focusing on highly interactive events for groups of 20 – 200 and have found these so much fun to produce.
Whether it be a corporate team building event custom-designed to fit the needs of a business client or an interactive Puzzle and Game Show Party for a private home, each of these events challenges our creative team and provides us the opportunity to get to know our audience and for them to get to know us.
For me, personally, going back to my magical roots and entertaining with close-up magic will definitely be in my sights. Magic is going through a Renaissance with the popularity of magic in live stage performances, on television and the success it has had on the reality shows.
However, there is nothing that can compare with the experience of magic in a close-up setting, where audience members feel the sense of amazement and wonder on a personal level. I love to share that with them.
Contact Info:
- Website: WWW.AMagicalEvent.com and WWW.RonPorterMagic.com
- Phone: (949)348-2972 (949)922-2972
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: magicalevents
- Facebook: Magical Events
- Twitter: @magicalevents
- Yelp: Magical Events
Image Credit:
Magical Events
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
