Sunday, October 31, 2010

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ November 1 through 6, 2010

Monday November 1 ~~ Albania and North Dakota


Tuesday November 2 ~~  Algeria and Ohio
Wednesday November 3 ~~  Andorra and Oklahoma

Thursday November 4 ~~  Angola and Oregon

Friday November 5 ~~  Antigua/Barbuda and Pennsylvania

Saturday November 6 ~~  Argentina and Puerto Rico

Sunday November 7 ~~ Armenia and Rhode Island

No special requests, at least that we know of right now.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel's Halloween Ball Costume Contest Winners 2010 - Individual

This year our theme was "Bedlam Behind Bars" and many of our guests really got into the theme. First place in the individual category certainly did, with his "Electric Chair" outfit, complete with light-up headpiece.

The headless bride, who won second place in the individual category, took a more classic horror approach.  Really creepy, right down to the makeup.
Third place in the individual category went to "Little Red Riding Hood" who managed to mostly tame this very scary wolf puppet that was an integral part of her outfit.  Congratulations to all of our winners!

The did an outstanding job, making the judging very difficult this year!

Juli

Our Favorite Halloween Guests

Okay, we know!  We shouldn't have favorites, but how could you not when you have guests like these!!?!

Karen and John Marsicano come to our Halloween Weekend events every year, and every year they decorate their room to the nines and beyond with every manner of Halloween/horror genre decorative items that they can think of.

Here are some photos of new items this year, as well as two video snippets so you can see how the entire room is decorated.

I hope you enjoy this "behind the scenes" glimpse of the activities of these extra-nice guests of the Hawthorne Hotel.

The Halloween Tree is bigger this year, to accommodate the new ornaments that you see below.

 This is the newest piece of art in their collection -- a painting commissioned by Karen & John, that came out exactly as they had hoped, and more.

New ornaments










Juli

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Hawthorne Hotel's "Bedlam Behind Bars" a Huge Success

The party is over, and seemed to have been a big success.  Here is a link to all the photos, and tomorrow I will do a full blog post on the winners.  http://picasaweb.google.com/HawthorneHotel/HawthorneHotelHalloweenCostumeBall2010#

If you were here, you would probably like to know that the Tavern, decorated as "Celebrity Cells" won for best decorated room, and photos will be included tomorrow.

Night all!

Juli

Perfect afternoon for a stroll at Union Square greenmarket

Shoppers at Union Square Greenmarket
There's is just something invigorating about stumbling across a farmer's market in the middle of a metropolitan area. The contrast of small town farmers and high heeled ladies in their Manolo's. The banker in a pinstripe smelling the harvest tomatoes and cantaloupe. The sea of plastic tents in an ocean of steel, concrete and glass. Whether you are in Milan, Buenos Aires, Makati City or
in the Greenmarket in New York, the appeal is the same.

Here are some photos I took at Union Square on a perfect September afternoon. Even the krishna's were out with their pamphlets. The Union Square chess regulars were taking in the spotlight as many passers by stop to take a quick look at a the city's Karpov's and Spassky's. New Yorkers were tasting wines from the Finger Lakes while I was enamored with the Smokra (smoked okra). In this city of all cities, it's great to see that the farmer's market is very much a part of its DNA. And in New York Greenmarkets, they welcome food stamps. Now, that's an amazing concept.

The Union Square Greenmarket is open 4 days a week in season (Monday, Wednesday, friday and Saturday).
















Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween Equals Fun at the Hawthorne Hotel

Today Claire Kallelis came in to work to find her office, which she shares with the Dining Services Managers, was decked out in honor of both her birthday and Halloween.  This video tells the tale, but does not fully capture the effect which was a room lit with strobe lights.

We put up "snow fencing" to protect our planter boxes from being sat on by the people who must wait in line outside the hotel for the various events to begin, including the Witches Ball, and our Costume Ball.  Our theme this year, "Bedlam Behind Bars" seemed perfect in conjunction with the fence, and we decided to utilize the fence to promote ticket sales to our Ball.  We are nearly sold out, but want people to know we do have just a few more tickets to sell.

I hope to see you here, Saturday night, at the biggest, best costume ball in all of Salem.

Juli
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Happy Halloween!

ghost20 gif (GIF Image, 441x578 pixels) - Scaled (86%) - Picture for Me

Wishing you a hauntingly fun Halloween!

Witches Ball Decor Is Terrific, Once Again

 This year the theme of the Festival of the Dead's Witches Ball is "A Grimm Fairytale" and you can see that the balloon decor, done by Royal Sorell of Balloon-Gineers fits that theme perfectly.  I hope you enjoy getting this sneak preview of tonight's event.

[For more information on the balloon design company, you can go to www.balloondesigns.com]

This year's theme includes classics like Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood so the costume possibilities are endless! Visit Wikipedia's list of Grimm's Fairy Tales for inspiration for your costume!

http://www.festivalofthedead.com/witchesball/index.htm

Tickets to tonight's event are $150 per person, and if you follow the link above there may still be a couple of tickets available.


 If you look closely, you will see the owner of the balloon company, Royal Sorell, hiding behind some of his creations.



Karen Cotton, our Director of Catering, loves to pose for my camera.

 Even the centerpieces are made from balloons, and carry out the enchanted forest aspect of the theme.  Royal is SO creative!

I hope to see you here at the historic Hawthorne Hotel, where every day brings something new and exciting.

Juli

Thursday, October 28, 2010

What is the Hawthorne Hotel Halloween Ball, you ask?

Wow, sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees!  We have been posting about buying tickets to the ball, but have not really posted a detailed outline of what the ball is all about.

Our Halloween Ball is a themed costume event, held annually here at the Hawthorne Hotel for at least 20 years.  It is the biggest, best party in Salem, which is the Halloween Capital of the World.  Even Reuter's News Service said our Ball is THE NUMBER ONE thing to do in Salem for Haunted Happenings.

Everyone comes in costume.  We decorate the entire public space of the hotel for the party in the theme of the ball.  We have a contest to determine which department of the hotel wins the decorating contest.  This contest is judged by our celebrity judges who get to come early.

The judges also determine who gets to participate in the costume contest.  We are giving cash prizes totalling $1,700 to the following:  Best Individual Costume, Best Group Costume, and Best "Theme of the Ball", which this year is "Bedlam Behind Bars".

We have a Band in the Ballroom, and DJs in the Library (the Dungeon) and Sophia's (the Infirmary) for dancing the night away. 

There will be tables of food, and servers passing all manner of hors d'oeuvres all night long.  There will be cash bars and beer buckets everywhere.

We will have three set-ups for photography, and photographers taking your photos with our compliments.  They will be available digitally with no additional cost.

And at the end of the night each guest will receive a souvenir tee-shirt with the ball logo on it -- certainly to become a collector's item, or a great nightshirt!



Tickets are still available, but are flying right now.  They are $90 each, and you can buy them by calling the hotel directly at 978-744-4080, or going on http://www.ticketweb.com/ and typing in Hawthorne Hotel, or by downloading the Haunted Happenings "App" on your iPhone and buying them right on your phone.

I hope to see you (and your spectacular costume) right here at the Hawthorne Hotel on Saturday, October 30.  Doors open at 7:30 pm, and everyone will turn into a pumpkin at midnight!

Juli