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Have a Red Hat Reunion in St. Louis
Pack your purple pashmina and red chapeau, gather your chapter members and head to St. Louis for a fun-filled getaway where the red carpet is always rolled out for Red Hat Society members.
The Gateway City offers exciting stops for "red tops" including more than a thousand one-of-a-kind restaurants, intriguing neighborhoods to explore and unusual shopping spots. St. Louis offers free world-class attractions than anyplace in the Midwest and cost-effective hotel packages, so you'll save enough to add a few new purple and red items to your wardrobe. The following is a brief sample of what you and your chapter members can do during a Red Hat Rally in St. Louis:
Day One Options:
They wore calico bonnets and traveled by Conestoga wagon. See what shopping was like for pioneer women with a visit to the Levee Mercantile, a replica 1870's-style riverfront general store located in the Visitor's Center beneath the Gateway Arch (1-2 hrs.). The quaint store is jam packed with fresh, edible food items similar to those the pioneers enjoyed, historically inspired cookbooks, kitchenware, toys, candies and other staples of an old-time mercantile. Group members can take a tram ride 630 feet to the top of the Arch for a 30-mile panoramic view of the city and the Mississippi River below. Next, tour the Museum of Westward Expansion for a glimpse into the lives of the Native American and pioneer women who called the American West home.
Tour the beautifully restored Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion Museum (1 hr.), a preserved 1848 antebellum Greek Revival mansion complete with period furnishings. Registered as a National Landmark, the mansion is one of only a handful of homes in the Greek revival style in St Louis and an excellent example of a Victorian home of a wealthy family. The attic houses one man's personal collection of 1904 St. Louis World's Fair memorabilia. Your chapter can lunch at Café DeMenil, the tasteful restaurant located in the renovated mansion carriage house. Or, for a heavenly lunch, head to Patty Long's 9th Street Abbey. Dine amidst the stained glass of this 19th century desanctified church, restored as a restaurant that reflects its original life as a center for worship in the historic Soulard neighborhood.
Your group will flip their red lids for the treasures waiting to be found along St. Louis' historic Cherokee Antique Row where more than 30 shops are filled with affordable antique selections from the fine to the funky. Cut your chapter members loose to explore for at least one hour.
In the afternoon, relax in luxury with afternoon tea service at the elegant Ritz-Carlton St. Louis hotel. Evening options: Broadway shows, music and dance performances, and special events fill the calendar. Check out always-updated St. Louis Calendar of Events to discover the perfect evening event taking place during your group's visit.
Day Two Options:
A flower-lover and gardener's Eden, the Missouri Botanical Garden (1-3 hrs.) is considered among the top three public gardens in the world and praised in National Geographic for its unparalleled efforts to catalog plants from the world's rain forests. The magnificent 79-acre Garden has been a St. Louis institution since it was founded in 1859. The newest additions to the nation's oldest public garden include 25 demonstration gardens within the Kemper Center for Home Gardening, a lovely Chinese Garden, Boxwood Garden and expanded Victorian garden area complete with a topiary maze and observatory. The Climatron houses a recreated tropical rain forest and an English Woodland garden nestled next to the largest traditional Japanese Garden in North America. Throughout the year, special classes and floral craft classes are available. Exercise your wallet at the Garden Gate Shop before you leave or peek into the nearby Little Shop Around the Corner for upscale re-sale and Gringo Jones for an amazing collection of garden sculpture and much more.
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but flowers provide the sparkle at The Jewel Box (15-30 min.), St. Louis' Art Deco-style floral display greenhouse in Forest Park. Recently renovated to celebrate the centennial of the 1904 World's Fair that was held in the park, the Jewel Box showcase elaborate floral displays throughout the year.
Women crave chocolate. And, there's not better place to satisfy the urge than Bissinger's French Confections (15-30 mins.) where St. Louis' French heritage is tastefully on display. Bissinger, one of the last handcrafted chocolatiers in the world, has been making fine French confections for more than 400 years. (The company's vanilla caramels were a favorite of the Empress Josephine.) The delicious shop is located in St. Louis' lovely Central West End neighborhood, an area developed at the turn of the 20th century around the time of the World's Fair. Today the neighborhood is home to sidewalk cafes, friendly pubs, and numerous art and antique galleries making it a perfect place to let the group loose to shop and dine on their own. Lunch at any number of delightful eateries within this pretty neighborhood.
See the divinely inspired artwork at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (30 min.-1 hr.). which houses the world's largest collection of mosaic art at the spectacular Romanesque/Byzantine style cathedral which Pope Paul VI called "the outstanding cathedral of the Americas." More than 41 million pieces of tesserae in 8,000 colors fill more than 83,000 square feet. The west chapels are the work of Tiffany and Company and the main altar and another chapel feature the work of Gorham. Docent led tours are free; groups should make advance reservations to meet your time schedule.
Finish the day with a spree...a shopping spree. The Saint Louis Galleria's 165 shops, tasty restaurants and special events entice group visits. The upscale mall's Grand Tour Advantage program provides groups with exclusive discounts, planning directories, special free gift offers and more. Motorcoach parking and easy curbside drop-off/pick-up service, fashion shows, fashion trend tours and dine around programs can be arranged to fit your chapter's schedule.
Day Three Options:
See galleries filled with works by the French Impressionists, German Expressionists, African artisans and rooms featuring decorative arts and antique at the beautiful Saint Louis Art Museum (1 hr.). Special exhibitions are held throughout the year, so be sure to check the Calendar of Events to see what's on view during your group's visit. Also of note: the Art Museum boasts a fantastic museum gift shop that's brimming with unique jewelry, fanciful paper products and giftware with an artistic Flair. Red Hat ladies can lunch at Puck's, the museum's lovely café operated by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.
Shop 'til you drop at the newly renovated Westfield Shopping Town West County where Nordstrom, Cold Water Creek, Lord & Taylor, Adrienne Vitadinni, Coach and other wonderful stores await. Still on your feet? Head to exclusive Plaza Frontenac for forays into the retail wonderlands of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Tiffany, Cole Haan, Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, J Jill, J. Crew and more. Chapter members will flip their red lids for the bargains found at St. Louis Mills. The giant mall houses big name stores that offer equally big outlet savings including Off Saks, Marshall's MegaStore, Perfumania, Mikasa, Nine West and more than 100 well-known retailers.
According to William Shakespeare, "all the world's a stage." But, not all stage settings are as elaborate as the one at St. Louis' Fabulous Fox Theatre. This 1929 movie palace, one of the first theatres built for "talkies" by movie mogul William Fox, was designed in a style described as Siamese-Byzantine. The showy interior -- the lobby is guarded by two sculptures of majestic lions with twinkling yellow eyes -- is often more elaborate than the sets from the touring Broadway shows and entertainment events that now grace the theatre's stage. Tours of the Fox Theatre are conducted every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (except holidays) at 10:30am. In addition, private tours can be arranged for groups of 20 or more. Check the Calendar of Events to see what exciting show is taking place at The Fabulous Fox during your group's visit. Theatrical fulfillment can also be found at the wonderful St. Louis Black Repertory Company; The Muny, the world's largest outdoor amphitheatre, where Broadway revivals are staged during the summer months in historic Forest Park; the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; the renowned Opera Theatre Saint Louis; Powell Hall where the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra holds forth and many more entertaining options.
Luck may be a lady for the ladies of the Red Hat Society at any one of the following St. Louis area riverboat casinos: on the Mighty Mississippi in view of the Gateway Arch you can take your chances aboard the President Casino on The Admiral or the Casino Queen. Farther upstream Argosy's Alton Belle is waiting for your group. Along the Missouri River, Harrah's Casino St. Louis and the Ameristar Casino St. Charles roll out the fun.