10 Best Ideas of the Week: The History Channel's Massive Cookout, a Sumo Wrestling Social, and S'mores as Centerpieces

A little rain doesn’t dampen the allure of a summery city barbecue, it would seem. On June 22, Boston’s “Chefs in Shorts” benefit for Future Chefs drew some 900 guests who sampled grilled snacks from 38 local eateries while hoisting umbrellas. At the booth from Bond at the Langham Hotel, soaked-but-undaunted staffers busily prepared sliders and champagne cocktails.

On Tuesday, the History channel parked an 80-foot-long smoker and grill in New York’s Union Square as part of its nine-city summer promotion. In addition to serving more than 2,000 pounds of sausage from the giant cooker designed and operated by grill-master Trace Arnold, the public event also offered free activities such as bocce ball.

To celebrate summer solstice, and to kick off the season, Sunglass Hut took to downtown New York's Perry Street to host a block party. The evening bash spanned an entire West Village block and had food carts that offered tacos and fries, barbecue fare, and games such as bean-bag toss and ping-pong. Perhaps the most talked-about element of the night was the branded pool, which producers built on the sidewalk and guests could sign with the provided markers.

espnW commemorated the 40th anniversary of Title IX on June 21 by unveiling the world’s largest photo mosaic of female athletes upon the Newseum’s 74-foot-high First Amendment tablet in Washington. The mosaic included more than 4,000 photos of elite and everyday female athletes.

Fiji Water kicked off its first national pool series in Miami Sunday night. At the event, hosted by Whitney Port at the Rooftop Pool at the Perry South Beach, guests lounged by the pool and enjoyed the Fiji Water Snow Cone Bar.

The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington's 30th annual Rammy awards Sunday at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel drew 1,500 chefs, sommeliers, restaurateurs, and other industry members. Planners reconfigured the layout, and the new setup allowed for a better crowd flow throughout the night’s three portions.

To promote the opening of YO!Sushi's first U.S. restaurant, LivingSocial hosted a sumo and dinner event Thursday at its 918 F Street venue in Washington. The ticketed event featured a three-course sushi meal, sake pairings, and professional sumo wrestling featuring three-time world sumo champion Byambajav Ulambayar versus three-time U.S. sumo champion Kelly Gneiting.

On June 22, the Chicago Botanic Garden celebrated its 40th anniversary at the annual Summer Dinner Dance. For the tent,  designer William Heffernan of HMR Design Group created what he called "an impressionistic painting of a pink rose garden." The tent had a color scheme of raspberry, red, and white—"a raspberry parfait, really," said Heffernan—with thousands of roses in different shades of pink.

For Toronto architecture firm Raw’s annual industry party on June 21, Kim Graham and Associates worked with Sublime Catering to create a playful menu. Dessert options included bites of cotton candy that, with LED lights, looked as though they were glowing in the dark.

Conceptbait Global Events & Florida Design Group used real graham crackers, Hershey’s bars, and two sizes of marshmallows to create centerpieces for  the launch party for Three Olives S’Mores Vodka Monday night at Hattricks Tavern in Tampa. Designers sprayed manzanita branches with dark brown paint and used a blow torch to char the marshmallows before attaching them to the branches.