Monday
May282012
Event Report: Close Encounters with Elizabeth Gilbert
Jay Johnson Monday, May 28, 2012 at 9:00AM 
I love to attend events, and since Sheffield School offers a Wedding and Event Planning course, I'm always eager to see how different events are planned and coordinated. Sunday, May 20th, was an 84-degree hot one in the idyllic river village of Frenchtown, NJ, but the scene was anything but tranquil. An electric buzz ripped through the main street as folks queued up for a limo ride to Two Buttons, the great Asian and world imports store that Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband Jose Nunez own, along with a complex of other conscious businesses ranging from a Pilates studio to a whole-foods restaurant. But what about that limo ride?
The special event was a "whole-town celebration" as Liz autographed copies of her latest book, a cookbook reissued with contributions from Liz - the cookbook originally published by her great-grandmother Margaret Yardley Potter called At Home on the Range. The book is fantastic. Whip-smartly written with a real gourmand's eye for the offbeat, the delicious, and the divine.
My friend bought an amazingly colorful Thai porkpie hat at Liz and Jose's store, and I picked up two copies of the cookbook and stood in line to say hi to Liz, chat with Jose while we stood in line (busy serving red wine to everyone, always the perfect host), and then have Liz autograph one copy of her cookbook for my daughter Meredith and her partner Chriss and one for me - I had her sign it: All My Love, Julia Roberts. The event was beautifully organized, with volunteers helping people in line, writing the names of special dedications on sticky notes to put into books for Liz to sign, and even Frenchtown police officers providing order to the colorful chaos. Outside the store, the town set up booths in a carnival-like atmosphere, and every restaurant in town was featuring a different special dish prepared from the new cookbook.
The event was a whole-town success, and was planned and executed wonderfully. And the core of the event, showing off a small town's best-selling author, was brilliant. The cookbook proceeds will go to Scholar Match, an organization connecting donors with deserving under-served students to help them attend college - so the event had a fundraising twang to it. I encourage everyone to buy several copies of At Home on the Range, give them out as gifts, and feel good about discovering unique recipes and helping deserving students at the same time.
Bonus
Click here for How to Be an Event Planner.
As lead curriculum developer, I enjoy covering the "events beat." If you're interested in learning more about the exciting world of event planning, then we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.
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