Its modus operandi has become the pattern of similar businesses across the country. But WashingtonInc was the first and is still certainly the most visible. Courtesy Associates, Joe Canzeri, Susan Davis Cos., Carolyn Peachey, Mary Pettus, Bess Abell and a few others plan parties, if not around the clock, at least around the season. The firm, one of the largest of any sort owned by women in Washington, isn't the only party put-on-er here. Translation: They flex their Filofaxes to produce everybody and everything you need to party. "We're one-stop shopping for events," the partners take turns saying. WashingtonInc is not a caterer or a florist, or a limousine or bus company, but something more. 30? These and more events are on the September calendar because of the work of WashingtonInc, premier among that group of businesses that are variously called the "party planners," the more serious-sounding "event organizers" and even the ridiculous and pompous "destination managers." They flourish in the corporate culture now that the great houses and their grand hostesses are gone, and they're usually run by women who used to entertain for love and now do it for money - in WashingtonInc's case, partners Barbara Boggs, Gretchen Poston, Ellen Proxmire and Harriet Schwartz. 26, and the American Red Cross meeting for 16 on Sept. 25, the American Film Institute's 25th anniversary for 800 on Sept. 24-27, American First bank's directors meeting for 30 in Williamsburg Sept. Otherwise who would have put together the Eleanor Brenner Washington Women's Breakfast, a fashion show for 100 on Tuesday? Or the annual meeting of the International Union of Building Societies and Savings Institutions, with receptions for 2,500, beginning Friday? Not to mention the Washington Hospital Center's conference for 100 cardiologists next week, the International Monetary Fund's receptions for 3,000 officers and clients of six banks Sept. They must - the pigeons have nowhere to go and the party planners have to work. If only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun, only pigeons and party planners stay in Washington while Congress is on its summer recess.
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