Despite rain and mud the Spa Soiree held at Glenda and Jerry Greenwald’s home the night before the Aspen Spa Day event was a lot of fun. Sallie Fraenkel, our COO, arranged a unique event twist for attendees to receive beautiful robes and slippers upon entry that they could wear for the evening. However, there was some hesitation about whether or not this would work with the sophisticated Aspen crowd who generally don the most amazing and expensive apparel to look “Aspen Casual” along with their huge baubles.
I will give the crowd credit for having a great sense of fun when they were willing to brave rain to drive up the windy road to the Greenwald’s mansion and take off their shoes to put on slippers. Thankfully the slippers were not the furry kind but plastic which in many cases saved $1,000 pair of shoes from the mud. Some also put on their robes. It probably helped that these Fernando Sanchez robes retail for $450 each and were drop dead gorgeous! There was spa food prepared by five of the world’s top spa chefs and mini spa treatments people could sample. Mandarin Oriental New York, Montage Resort and Spa, Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa , Ojai Valley Inn and Spa , and Chiva Som in Thailand flew in their chefs for the event. We all learned a few things. One is that if you put your pedicured toes in mud for a few hours, the polish will chip. Second, it was once again verified that Aspenites like to party but expect your party to end on the early side, they like to get up early to hike, bike, and do their yoga. Looking so fabulous does take a lot of work!
Well, indeed there was a smattering of folks around the pool with their noses in the Potter book. My favorite encounter was with Marty and his daughter Isabel pictured here who each had a copy of the book. He was reading the British version and she was reading the American version. They had enjoyed all of the previous books together beginning with the ones he read to her when she was a child.
The idea was to invite a variety of Luxury Spa Finder advertisers to join us as exhibitors in a large white tent in the middle of Aspen on a busy summer weekend – and invite the public to join us for all the spa-related festivities. They would be able to walk through the tent sampling various spa treatments and spa food. It was a match made in heaven, Aspenites (who are affluent, into health and wellness, and love to travel) are the perfect match for our Luxury Spa Finder partners. We were hoping for 1,000 people, but had more than twice that many people, some of whom even flew in from other states. The buzz was so extraordinary that we think the tent needs to be twice as big next year! All the Spa Finder staff who attended (there were 8 of us) are walking around the office today with big smiles and fun stories – and maybe a bit tired from the return trip which got us into New York very late last evening.