New Year’s Eve. What
is it about that day – night, actually – that is so special and so
important? Is it the haunting melody of the song “Auld Lang Syne” by
Scottish poet Robert Burns? It is played on every New Year’s Eve, yet no
one seems to know more than the first line or two – although everyone seems
to enjoy singing at least the chorus as it is played at midnight. (According
to history, the words suggested by poet Burns
translate
literally to English as old long since, but can best be translated as
times gone by.)
Is it the chance to
say goodbye to a year in which the memories are ones that would be better
left in the past.. or look forward to the prospects of a better year? Is it
an opportunity to raise a toast to those who have passed on and remember the
love and friendship they brought to the world? Or is it just another chance
to celebrate? Perhaps it is a bit of all of the above in varying amounts.
The real key
to New Year’s Eve is always the celebration, no matter what the reason. I
remember back to when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My parents would stay
at home with us and we all gather ‘round a fire in the fireplace and watch
television until very late. My mom would save up and buy steak and lobster
for the occasion. We would all eat together at about 11:00 and then sing
the Auld Lang Syne chorus with the television as we fired some poppers, blew
horns and threw streamers at midnight. I have always celebrated New Year’s
Eve, sometimes in “style” and sometimes not, but I have almost always
enjoyed the celebration and the passing of one year into the next. And one
of the things that I have always tried to do is to make every New Year’s Eve
different but very special in terms of the way in which I celebrated it.
This year my wife and I decided to book a room and a special package at
Pheasant Run Resort in St Charles. Appropriately, the package was called
the St. Charles Elegance Package; it turned out to be a great choice.
We checked
in at about 3:00 in the afternoon and could already feel the excitement in
the air. People were scurrying every which way and omnipresent resort
employees were busy making final preparations. At check-in, we received
wrist bands identifying our package choice and a special voucher that we
presented to another Resort employee and in turn received our “instructions”
for the evening. We then were treated to our first of several glasses of
complementary champagne for the evening, which by the way was a very good
name brand – not the very inexpensive stuff that one might have expected.
The evening was starting off very well.
Our room was
on the 4th floor of the recently refurbished 16-story Tower, and
there were plenty of
amenities. After dropping off our bags, we decided to check out how the
rest of the resort was preparing for the evening. By the way, in addition
to our overnight accommodations, our package included a sumptuous
five-course dinner with entertainment by the Pete Fleming Orchestra, access
to 3 party areas (Pete Fleming Orchestra in St. Charles Ballroom, DJ in
Garden Atrium, and Wind Gypsy's in Lilly's Lounge), an open bar,
champagne
toast, party favors, balloon drop, midnight snack buffet and Sunday morning
brunch in the St. Charles Ballroom. Whew! After determining that all of
the above-mentioned areas were “cocked, locked and ready to rock”, we
enjoyed a short swim in the indoor-outdoor pool, then returned to our room
for some rest, prior to showers and dressing for the evening’s festivities.
The St.
Charles Ballroom was decked out to the max with white-clothed tables,
silverware, wine and water glasses, candles and centerpieces. There were
also hats, horns, streamers and leis for everyone; there was a huge net full
of balloons neatly hung from the ceiling just waiting for the midnight
drop. A rough estimate placed the number of evening’s diners at 400-500,
and parties were seated at the tables set for eight. It was especially nice
to see that the vast majority of the evening’s participants had opted for a
fairly formal style, although a few were “dressed down” just a bit. The
evening commenced with tasty hors d’oeuvres, followed by rich and delicious
Lobster Bisque, Asiago Crusted Roma Tomato Salad and a tangy Passion Fruit
Sorbet to cleanse the palate prior to the main course: An incredible trio of
Fillet Mignon, Stuffed Mediterranean Chicken and Cumin Crusted Lamb Chop,
accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables; Chardonnay and
Cabernet Sauvignon were offered with dinner. There was also a trio for
dessert: a small piece of Tiramisu, a Chocolate-covered Strawberry and a
small pastry filled with tart Kiwi Fruit. After almost three hours of
non-stop grazing, we were stuffed and could hardly move away from the table
without assistance… what an amazing meal!
Although
there was a DJ spinning tunes in the Atrium, it seemed as if the majority of
folks – including us – preferred the live music in the Ballroom after
dinner. The music choices were mostly lively ones from the 80’s and 90’s and
we danced our legs off with only infrequent breaks for cooling down and
trips to the open bars. We also checked the live music in Lilly’s Lounge
and the Atrium music just to see the difference in venues. With the stroke
of midnight close at hand, it was clear that everything – and everybody –
had just about reached a fever pitch, many of the revelers having made
overly-abundant stops for libations. Prior to the 10-second countdown that
seems to now be a world-wide phenomenon, champagne was provided to everyone
and we all counted down, assisting the last few seconds (at least in the
central time zone) of 2005 to leak away into the past. At the stroke of
midnight, the massive bulge of balloons was released from the ceiling and
party-goers began to stomp on them, creating the semblance of fireworks on
the dance floor while toasting the arrival of another new year and singing
the familiar Auld Lang Syne (with a bit of the original Scottish tucked in
at the end):
Although last call was not until 1:30 am, we decided that a bit of the
sumptuous snack buffet and one final cocktail was the signal to end the
evening. We headed for our room and quickly fell asleep.
On Sunday morning, the Chef’s New Year’s Day Brunch was another incredible
offering of the talents of Chef Josef Yurisich. Similar to his weekly
Sunday Brunch (see Ralph Pancetta’s review) and offering over 100 culinary
delights, free champagne and a live jazz trio, it was the perfect
exclamation point on a fine and festive holiday… and a reason to embark
immediately upon a sustained and very austere diet!
As I sit now at the keyboard and reflect upon the entire experience, I must
say that our choice for New Year’s was a good one. It is also one that I
can easily recommend to you. With all of its activities and offerings,
Pheasant Run is a great place to go at any time. But if this New Year’s Eve
is typical of what they usually do, then by all means, give it a shot next
year. For parents who don’t want to leave their children behind, there was
a special
Kids Klub and plenty to do for the youngsters…
It seemed that many took advantage of that.
We were both impressed by the Resort’s ability to effectively handle large
crowds (I’m not sure of the numbers, but I was told that the place was at
95% occupancy). It was not only clean when we arrived, but there were crews
that cleaned continuously throughout the evening. And we were amazed at the
almost immaculate condition of the Resort’s physical plant on Sunday morning
– especially after the extent of the partying the night before. We were
also impressed by the presence and effectiveness of the security staff.
They did an excellent job handling those who had obviously taken overzealous
advantage of the open bar part of the evening. My only suggestion to
improve next year’s event would be to consider selecting a mellower music to
play during dinner – Prince, Michael Jackson and
Chaka Khan do not do much for digestion.
My New Year’s and other hats go off to
Pheasant Run Resort. Thanks for a
great stay, great meals and a phenomenal party!
