Thursday morning came wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too early for every CIE/Ice House staff member after Wednesday's event for Churchill Downs. We were dragging... beyond dragging, really... like sitting-around-a-table-staring-at-each-other dragging... but we had to push through.
Preparation Thursday
Around 11 am, we started our set up for Oaks and Smokes. 32 hours until start time -- the pressure was on. Sitting on the Ice House's terrace listening to the bustle of the Chow Wagon making, what we thought would be, 17 little red carnation ball centerpieces in the sun really wasn't so bad. As odd as it may sound, and as tedious as it might be to others, it was a bit therapeutic. Then again, I LOVE flowers. Love them. It's an issue... I'm seeking counseling. Halfway through, our fear that we only had enough carnations for about 14 little red carnation balls came true (oops!... you live and you learn. For future reference, it takes more than 625 carnations... just in case you ever get the inkling to make 17 little carnation balls) -- but, floating candles are always a beautiful addition. Next were our spider mum centerpieces for under the tent we were putting out on East Washington Street in front of the venue. Around 4 pm, all of the things that could be completed at The Ice House were done... a few more errands, and we called it a night.
Oaks and Smokes Friday
If you've never closed down a public street, let me be the first to tell you, it is a BIT of a process -- permits, permits, permits. And don't think that that means you can do anything you want on the street you just paid the city to close, either (but that's another story... we'll get there soon). At 6 am, Lindsay greeted the rental company to let them begin putting up the tent on East Washington Street. By 8 am, we were already texting each other a game plan for the morning. And by 10 am, tables, chairs, linens, and bars were all being placed under the tent. We had been told that The Travel Channel was coming to Oaks and Smokes later that evening to film for one of their newest shows, so our brains went into overtime. We are blessed here at Crushed Ice Events to have amazing employees, friends, and family members that are willing to help us in our time of need -- so while Lindsay and I were running everywhere, they were handling things without much supervision. They even help gather last minute permits necessary to put a tent up in the city of Louisville that we were completely unaware of (thank you much for that little headache), and stand as back up when a grumpy old man wants to get nasty about parking spaces.
At 5 pm, everything was coming together. Our staff looked great -- we picked up some cheap, $1 white bow-ties at the beginning of the week to add a little extra, and our server girls were in cute black cocktail dresses. The stages were up in the venue for Here Come the Mummies and The Tarnations, the bars were being stocked full to the brim, and the food was almost ready.
At 7 pm, thanks to a heads up from one of our owners, Mike Schnell, we were informed of an awesome wind storm headed our way. Right as guests were arriving, the buffet was opening, and the jazz band began to play, a wonderful downpour of rain and howling wind came to visit. Storms tend to freak people out... especially under a tent, in the middle of the street, with chandeliers swinging over top of them... but not our guests. They simply kept going through the line and eating, waiting out the storm, which was a typical pop-up shower that was gone in 15 minutes. Luckily, nothing went missing, there were no electrical issues, lampposts stayed upright, and only the front registration tables were soaked (not ideal, but it could have been so much worse!). Afterwards, it was smooth sailing from there.
Guests LOVED the menu! (and not just the large chalkboard one we had standing beside the buffet.. which looked awesome if I do say so myself.. cough cough..) They went through 400 pounds of meat in two hours... WOW! We must have done something right! But we were beginning to panic because The Travel Channel wasn't supposed to be there until around 10 pm. Now, if you have never tried to put on an event and have awesome pictures/video of it, let me give you some advice. Don't expect it to look picture worthy after your guests have gone through the line. All of these pictures on Pinterest are done BEFORE anyone has touched it. It's picture-perfect for about 5 minutes... so get it in while you can. Do you see where I'm going with this? Do you see why we were freaking out slightly about The Travel Channel coming so late? I mean, who can blame our guests? Our food/presentation is phenomenal... you can't control yourselves with greatness ;-). To solve our dilemma, we shut the buffet down for 15-20 minutes... reset everything --- E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Paper to desserts to rewriting labels to meats to sides... we stocked it just like the event hadn't started. To our disappointment, by 10:30 pm, The Travel Channel was no where to be found, and our guests were a little antsy (rightfully so). So, we said "oh well" and opened the buffet. Luckily and unluckily for us, The Travel Channel never showed. BUT! It is their loss -- not ours. Maybe they can make it next year!
After it was all over, the tables were moved in from the street, the linens tucked away in their appropriate bags, and the rentals neatly tucked away into the tent, Lindsay and I sat down with the staff for a little "thank you." Leaving at 2:30 am, we couldn't believe we had another Oaks and Smokes under our belt. And without the team we had that day, none of it would have gotten done. It was even our head chef's birthday!!!! (what a way to celebrate, huh??)
Personally, this year was my favorite so far -- I didn't wreck any vehicles, I didn't fall down concrete stairs, and I knew not to drink two 5 hours energy shots back to back (seriously... shakes for days). Everything looked great and as always, it was a fabulous time!
"eat, drink & be merry!"
