This week's roundup includes Vans' arty activation at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, a course of bubbles at the Watermill Center summer benefit in the Hamptons, a frigid event space at Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin Resort, and oversize Hasboro games at Variety's event in Los Angeles.
Pitchfork Music Festival took to Chicago's Union Park July 19 to 21, and PopChips sponsored a so-called "rescue hut." Supplied by Tuff Shed, the activation was stocked with items that festivalgoers often need, including cell phone chargers. After the festival, PopChips and Habitat for Humanity partnered to donate the hut to the Chicago community.
Playing off its "Off the Wall" tagline, Vans had a painter create portraits of festivalgoers. The paintings hung on a temporary wall on festival grounds and will be auctioned off at future Goose Island Brewery events. Proceeds will benefit the 606, a local park and trail system set to launch in the fall.
The Watermill Center's summer benefit in the Hamptons on Saturday had plenty of arty installations. Robert Wilson's "Stargazer Beds" scattered pulley-operated planks around the main terrace for guests to be lowered backward, their eyes toward heaven.
In "My Favorite Food," artist Yao Zhang served a continuous course of bubbles emanating from a headless human form presided over by two performers dressed as white-jacketed waiters with giant red lips.
It's the dog days of summer. Why not host a party in a walk-in freezer, such as the space at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Florida? Though the hotel began offering fetes in the freezing locale five years ago, they've seen a recent increase in the offering's popularity. The space holds 60.
This sandbox is a bit more highbrow than your typical beach version. For an archeology-themed party at Ardbeg Day at Miami's Cafeina Wynwood Lounge in June, the whiskey brand invited HistoryMiami to create a simulated archeological dig site and competition.
Most events that take on a garden theme use tons of flowers and foliage. But at a recent gala dinner and auction for the Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School in Santa Cruz, California, Peggy Young & Associates eschewed live plants and chose a different way to express the theme. In the dining room, galvanized watering cans hung over tables, with fiber optic lights mimicking water pouring out of the spouts.
Variety's Power of Youth event presented by Hasbro took place at Universal Studios in Los Angeles on Saturday. About 500 guests participated in oversize interpretations of Hasbro games. At the My Little Pony Ponyfication station, guests including honoree Quvenzhané Wallis got colored hair and so-called "cutie marks."
At the Historic House Trust of New York City's Founders Award gala, 360 Design Events matched the decor to the theme by hanging hats in and around the tent set up at Gracie Mansion. The June 5 dinner's theme was "hats off," so the design firm used colorful ribbons to suspend dozens of straw hats from trees in the garden and the tent ceiling. And to prevent waste, guests were invited to take home the headwear as a memento of the evening.
Travel & Leisure honored its World’s Best Awards winners on July 18 at Center548 in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. Guests could choose from a selection of freshly squeezed fruit margaritas at the Patrón juicing bar.
