People wearing burlap bags, newspapers, deerskin and milk carton costumes danced around Heritage Hall Saturday at the Green Design Conference's first Beaux Arts Ball.

The evening's program was part of the Ninth Annual Green Design Conference, with live music, refreshments and a costume contest.

"It's meant to be a good time in honor of Green Design," said Kerri Zelman, a staff member at Center for Sustainability, one of the conference's sponsors.

A $250 award was given to each the individual and couple with the best costume made of either natural or recycled material. A panel of judges chose three finalists in each category and winners were decided by the audience's applause. The individual category included the "bag lady," the "mirror lady" and the "milk carton girl." In the couples category were the "plastic bag couple," the "burlap bag mother and son" and the "deer men." Before the final vote, contestants were asked to come forward and explain their costumes to the audience.

The winning contestants were the "mirror lady" in the individual category and the "deer men" in the couples category.

Pembroke Childs, the "mirror lady," wore a black costume with pieces of a broken mirror attached to it. She also wore a mask made of the same material as casts for broken bones, which was covered with pieces of the broken mirror. She got the idea when she saw college students throwing old mirrors away as they were moving out. Childs said she liked the reflection of light off her costume.

The "deer men" were dressed in deerskin clothes and wore antlers on their heads. One of the men, John Mangan, of Julian, said he'd donate a portion of his winnings to a living land trust school and use the rest of it to make a land payment.

Maho Hisakawa, a recent Penn State graduate, was a finalist in the individual category. She said she was impressed by the way the event's organizers incorporated issues of sustainability, making it more meaningful than a typical ball.

"It's not just like a high school dance," she said.

The Beaux Arts Ball originated at an architecture school in France and migrated to the United States, said Steven Shaffer, assistant professor of architecture. The most well known Beaux Arts Ball took place in New York City, where designers dressed like their buildings, he said.

First-year architecture students also got involved by making sculptures to decorate the hall. A total of eight sculptures, made from soda bottles, phone books and shards of beer bottles, lined the outside edge of the dance floor.

The University Park Allocation Committee sponsored the bands, the space and the advertising for the event. The Green Design Conference, which was sponsored by The Bowers Center for Excellence in Design and Construction of the Built Environment, donated the prize money.

The conference also consisted of a design competition in the Kunkle Activities Center that showcased projects in the areas of architecture, engineered house systems, landscapes and gardens, community design and ecological innovations. The competition included such exhibits as a water pump, an urban rover cycle, a solar oven and a filtration system. Workshops in Green Design also took place throughout the day in Sackett Building.

Zelman said she hopes the ball will be an annual event at Penn State.

"We got a lot of positive response and we want to keep it a tradition," she said. "We've learned a lot from this."