Party by the pool at the Hotel ZaZa in Dallas? Yes, please — especially because on Tuesday night a large group of revelers were toasting the upcoming launch of CultureMap Dallas.
The crowd of nearly 200 included major players in the blogosphere, PR and marketing powerhouses, advertising partners, CultureMap staffers from Houston and Austin, and other CultureMap friends and contributors. On the agenda: Cocktails, small bites, beats by DJ Lucy Wrubel and buzz about the new daily news site.
Performance artists dressed in full-body black Spandex suits with iPads strapped to their chests slinked around the pool.
Each guest was greeted by a sweet ride — a sparkling white Cadillac parked in the ZaZa circle drive. Plus partygoers were snapped, paparazzi-style, upon entry and got to see their photos almost instantly via their smartphones. (Seriously, what did we do before all this technology?)
Once inside, everyone had a chance to chit-chat with each other and the CultureMap Dallas editors, including Jennifer Chininis, Claire St. Amant, Alex Bentley, Jonathan Rienstra, Teresa “Scoop” Gubbins and yours truly.
As a special treat, the Dragonfly culinary team, led by executive chef Dan Landsberg, created appetizers and cocktails according to specs submitted by each editor, the details of which were imprinted on signage at stations around the pool. Servers circulated with trays of old fashioneds, saketinis, St. Germain Champagne cocktails, Sazeracs, Rahr & Son’s Texas Red Amber Lager and Moscow Mules to accompany canapes like lamb spanakopita crostini and veggie dumplings.
Perhaps the biggest stars of the night were the performance artists dressed in full-body black Spandex suits with iPads strapped to their chests. They slinked around the pool, pausing occasionally for invitees to get a sneak peek of the CultureMap Dallas site displayed on the iPads.
Dallas heavyweights Lindsey Miller, Suzanne Droese, Kristie Ramirez, Tom Hoitsma, Catharine Flagg, Daniel Vaughn, Silver Hogue, Jef Tingley, Steven Lindsey, Candy Evans and Keith Nix made the night. We were also happy to introduce our tireless CEO Alyce Alston and chief digital officer Amy Katzenberg to the crowd, as well as CultureMap Houston sales team leaders Chad Miller and Meredith Riddle and CultureMap Austin editors Caitlin Ryan and Arden Ward.
Look for CultureMap Dallas to launch next week. More details to come.
