Embracing the growing community of Scandinavians in South Florida, entrepreneur Matthew Miceli threw a party for 200 on Saturday night at La Piaggia, a members-only St. Tropez-themed beach club in Miami Beach popular with Europeans living in town. A spin on your average holiday party in Miami, "Lucia 2010" centered around St. Lucia's Day, an ancient holiday tradition typically celebrated a few weeks before Christmas throughout Scandinavia and Italy.
“I moved to Miami over three years ago from Sweden and of course fell in love with it,” says Miceli, who founded Scandi Miami in 2009 as a way to bring the 2,000-strong Scandinavian community together in South Florida through events. “I started to put together very small events every few months for the community here, and got to know a lot of these people, their friends and their networks, including foreign exchange students who were here, and basically grew the whole thing from those connections I had in Miami and Scandinavia.”
At $100 a ticket, Lucia 2010 was the organization’s largest event to date, with the backing of 12 sponsors, including Swedish automaker Saab—who was present to unveil its new 94x sports utility model and offered attendees a $500 discount card, good toward their next Saab purchase. “One of the main things that’s different about this event is the type of sponsors we have,” said Miceli. “One of the reasons is that there are favorable tax laws for basing your business here.”
Sponsors looking to connect with Scandi Miami’s audience included Swims, a men’s footwear company from Norway that makes loafers suited for the pool, the beach, or boating, and Absolut, which offered guests free drinks at the bar.
In keeping with the theme, Miceli, who managed the event himself and flew in a few decorative pieces from Sweden (think: flags and candles), asked La Piaggia to create a smorgasbord-style menu, with items such as Swedish meatballs. He also flew in DJ Adrian Lux from Stockholm, who kept guests dancing until past midnight, after which the crowd headed to nearby club Wall at the W Hotel for an after-party.
Correction: This story incorrectly stated that Shores of Denmark was a sponsor Lucia 2010.
