Cabana One pool club and lounge, Coconut Grove's newest venue, celebrated its grand opening on Friday night. Located on the rooftop of the Mayfair Hotel and Spa, guests lounged on wrap-around white couches around the perimeter of the space and whicker chairs set up next to the pool designed by Leslie Schlesinger Interiors-who also designed the bar featuring a elaborate curved overhang.
The Mayfair's in-house restaurant Angelo & Maxie's served Kobe beef sliders, coconut shrimp, and tuna tataki. Female servers mingled amongst the crowd with trays glasses filled with either champagne or Cabana One's signature drink, a mixture of rosemary and ginger infused vodka and Bombay Sapphire, straight up in a martini glass. Servers also paraded the occasional sparkler-topped bottle over to seated guests -- including many celebrities in attendance such as Jamie Lynn Sigler, Kristin Cavallari, and Chris Evans.
As clocks struck midnight, Nicole and Natalie Albino of Nina Sky grabbed the microphones and put on a performance for guests. DJ Irie manned the turntables throughout the night. —Erick Cipau
Reed Travel Exhibitions announced today that it is launching a new international trade show for the global meetings and incentive industry, dubbed the Americas Incentive Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (AIBTM), to be held in Baltimore from June 29 to July 1, 2010.
Group Exhibition Director Paul Kennedy said in a press release that after working for two years on a research and business development plan for AIBTM, it was clear there was a demand for an Americas event that delivered domestic and international exhibitors and buyers. Kennedy added that Baltimore was chosen as the city to host the event because of its extensive air routes for international travelers. —Sara Randolph
American Airlines Arena hosted the second annual Miami Children's Hospital Foundation Diamond Ball and private concert. PGM Studios (Pedro Galvez)
With the bar set high (last year's inaugural event at Ice Palace Film Studios raked in more than $1 million for the charity), the Miami Children's Hospital Foundation pulled out all the stops for Saturday's dinner and private concert at American Airlines Arena. The ball's glitzy name and diamond theme stem from the charity's belief that children are the world's most valuable resource, explained Lucy Morillo, president of the Miami Children's Hospital Foundation.
Grammy and Country Music Association awards supervising producer Tzvi Small and BET Awards producer Ron Weisner helped the charity execute the concert portion of the evening.
"Miami Children's Hospital and its foundation are committed to helping children around the world and their families, and we can't think of a more worthy cause than that," said Weisner.
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Pint-size models walked the hopscotch-marked runway with toys such as hula hoops and scooters during the debut Cookie Catwalk show. Courtesy of Condé Nast
Funkshion Fashion Week Miami Beach, the alternative fashion week celebrating the fashion and music worlds, wrapped up its 11th season of shows Sunday at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. Beginning on October 1, this year's event took a more eco-friendly approach to fashion by partnering with Clean Planet Funding and bringing in a variety of energy and environmental experts to assist with the production of the week. The collaboration was the result of Funkshion planners' desire to reduce the carbon footprint of the event and educate those involved in the shows, as well as the community, about the effects of building green.
With about 65 percent of total electricity consumption in the country coming from buildings, event planners contacted Alain Perez of Eventstar-a top tenting and temporary structure company in Miami-to construct the show venues. From the runway over the pool of the Setai and the rooftop pool of the Gansevoort South Hotel and Residences to Funkshion headquarters in the Botanical Gardens, all of the shows took place outside.
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The Jacksonville Beach location of Roy's restaurant was recently honored with Wine Spectator magazine's Award of Excellence. The honor comes after an evaluation by food and wine critics representing the publication and gauging the establishment's ability to live up to dining standards for wine and food menus, as well as atmosphere.
"We have devoted a great deal of time and energy to our wine program to provide choices that will enhance our guests' dining experience at Roy's," said J.P. Diedrich, Roy's managing partner.
The restaurant, specializing in Hawaiian fusion cuisine from its James Beard Award-winning chef and founder, Roy Yamaguchi, has 33 locations across the country, including six in Florida.
FROM NEW YORK Willing to lend their names and talents not just to the official campaigns, but to grassroots events and concerts, musicians have helped the presidential candidates to draw in plenty of money and maybe even a few voters this election year. The latest event is tonight’s “Barack Rock” at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
With musical performances from Andrew Bird, the Fiery Furnaces, and Guster, as well as comedic sets by Eugene Mirman and John Roberts, the fund-raiser is charging $40 ticket. Similar initiatives are popping up across the country; “Change Rocks” in Chicago and the “Barack Obama-rama” in Los Angeles have also seen indie rock acts joining forces for the Democratic candidate.
READ MORE RELATED TOPICSElection 2008,
Barack Obama,
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Bruce Springsteen,
Billy Joel
The open kitchen allowed guests to watch the chefs in action. Cristina Cook for BizBash
Not even a rainstorm could keep guests from attending Saturday night's red-carpet opening of Vic and Angelo's in Delray Beach. Orchestrated by the Gab Group PR & Marketing, this exclusive event on October 4 gave eventgoers an evening that tapped into the senses through elaborate interior design, high-quality food, and perfect lighting and sound-as well as beautiful fellow guests.
Particular attention was drawn to the simple yet sophisticated decor of the restaurant. Designed by Lynn Manero of Lynn Interior Designs, the venue features an array of reds, from the bottles of Chianti and red leather bar chairs to Campari bottle light fixtures. Flat-screen televisions decorate the Chicago-style brick walls, while plush dark brown leather booths, mosaic tiling, and dark wooden floors channel the Italian eatery's roots with a modern update. Outside, orange gel lighting was used to draw focus to the V.I.P. event.
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The inside of Coty's Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Lounge Photo: Courtesy of Coty Prestige
FROM TORONTO The four Harajuku girls Gwen Stefani employed for her 2004 solo tour weren't around to promote the new Harajuku Lovers fragrances in Canada—but they were emulated by models dressed in short skirts and pigtails as part of manufacturer Coty Prestige's traveling Harajuku Lovers Fragrance Lounge, which visited several locations in Toronto and Montreal from Thursday to Saturday. They also inspired Stefani's new fragrances, with each of the four girls, plus Gwen, representing one of the five scents.
"The fragrances are really fun, and we wanted to get the girls involved in the event," said Kim Husted, director of marketing at Coty Canada. The lounge—held in the Jam Van, a 24-foot vehicle designed for experiential marketing events—promoted the new scents in high schools, malls, movie theatres, and nightclubs in Toronto and Montreal over the three-day period. The mini tour started October 2 with a media preview.
YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR From her college years spent as a hostess at Tavern on the Green or her stints in New York working for prominent caterers, Elsylee Colon has been involved in culinary arts for a long time. Her experience as an event planner and working in the hospitality industry helped her fine-tune her knowledge of food presentation and styling techniques.
Colon began experimenting with flavors and textures as a child. Her grandmother, also a chef, encouraged her to play around and create new dishes and recipes for family gatherings. With those newly discovered dishes, Colon would later make gifts for her family and friends that were always created by hand and especially for them, a quality on which Colon's business, Elsylee Galetes Artesanals, centers.
"I think that this personalized element is usually taken for granted today by most catering and food companies," she says. "Giving someone a handmade gift that was made specifically for them at the time of the order makes them feel ultra-special and unique." READ MORE
Models in Nordic-inspired costumes posed for pictures throughout the chilly bar. IceBar Orlando
Attendees to the grand opening of the first IceBar in the U.S. on October 1 were treated to an expedition to the Arctic Circle without leaving Orlando. Upon arrival they were greeted by IceBar Orlando staff members who provided them with the temperature-appropriate capes and gloves to stay warm during their 30-minute experience into the tundra.
After suiting up, guests made their way through the Chill Lounge, a 4,000-square-foot ultra-cool bar featuring live entertainment. Beyond the intricate ice sculptures, a DJ spinning venue-appropriate tunes such as "Ice, Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice and Britney Spear's "Break the Ice" set the mood for dancers sporting Nordic-inspired costumes in glass cases.
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