Brand ambassador Venus Williams hosted the party, and doled out tennis tips to guests. "Venus is the perfect ambassador for Tide plus Febreze Freshness Sport because she and Tide share the belief that being able to keep clothes clean and fresh should never come between you and your style—on or off the court,” said Suzanne Watson, associate marketing director for North America Tide, in a press release.

Planners used a beat-the-winter-blues hook to lure guests to the opening party, sending an invite in early January that used a cheerful cursive font to declare: "There's only one way to beat winter: Invite spring." They also asked four local socialites—Stacey Reineking Stather, Susanna Negovan, Candace Jordan, and Jessica LaGrange—to host the function and invite their contacts. Around 400 guests ultimately made it to the soiree, and the crowd included top Pottery Barn clients, journalists, and interior designers. 

1. The 450 Harrison Avenue building holds the neighborhood's largest collection of art galleries, including Gallery Kayafas, a photography-focused open space that can host 70 for a reception or 30 for a seated dinner. With hardwood floors and floating walls that can be configured in several different ways, the gallery also offers a sound system that can be connected to an iPod. In the same building, Walker Contemporary, which opened in November 2008, is a raw space with white walls and a red-brick ceiling, with room to host 60 for a reception.

Mixt Greens is open during weekday lunch hours from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., making it a good choice for a casual meeting or convention break. Catering and boxed lunches are also available for in-office meals.

Now 40, Flores offers floral design, along with occasional event production, through her new company, Flowers by Juliet. She prefers to work on events with no more than 100 guests, with arrangements starting at around $50 each.

Papillon can accommodate as many as 1,000, and group pricing is available. Tour options may include sunset travel, adventure components such as ATVs, kayaking, pontoon tours, or walking on the Grand Canyon’s new Skywalk, the glass and steel walkway that extends 70 feet beyond the rim above a 4,000 foot drop. 

Last week, I wrote about the plethora of food festivals happening this month in New York, most of which have no problem filling kitchens, dining rooms, stores, and other venues with paying, eager eaters. Yet at the same time, the industry’s oldest and most prestigious magazine, Gourmet, up and folded, and downtown, perennially top-rated Chanterelle closed its doors.

But at the New York City Wine & Food Festival this past weekend, it was as if those closings happened on an altogether different planet. The four-day affair kicked off with “Celebration,” a V.I.P. event on Thursday at the Food Network studio. There were so many celebrity chefs that festival founder Lee Schrager found himself in trouble when, during his speech, he began thanking present network personalities Alton Brown, Guy Fieri, and Sandra Lee, and suddenly a bunch of others started shouting out their own names. Lee wisely widened his thanks to “everyone at the Food Network, including the security guard, who five years later still doesn’t recognize me.”

It is 4:15 on a Saturday afternoon at the French Culinary Institute, and I’m sitting in on a New York magazine-sponsored deluxe weekend of instructional cooking, the New York Culinary Experience, with some of the world’s leading chefs. In addition to Monsieur Pépin, fellow F.C.I. deans André Soltner (formerly of Lutèce) and Alain Sailhac (formerly of the 21 Club) are sauntering around the room, assisted by six sous chefs, by my count. In two days, the announcement that Gourmet is closing will shock this community, but today we are all blissfully enjoying Food Month.

Under Abramson’s guide, events and conferences will be on the record, and content and structure will be determined by the newsroom. The unit will manage a number of different events of local, national, and international interest.