Comfort food is at its best when it’s interpreted, not contrived, advises native Charlestonian Mitchell Crosby, principal with JMC Charleston, a local destination management company.
“Today you don’t see just fried chicken and succotash on the plate before you. Instead, you might find a piece of locally caught snowy white grouper that’s been butter poached and presented atop a mound of succotash of fresh corn and butter beans from a local farm,” he says.
Crosby understands the local heritage that is reflected on the table and elsewhere. And he helps his group clients experience it all around town.
At The William Aiken House, 20,000 square feet of space accommodates a variety of small to company-wide conferences, receptions and events in six rooms and outdoor spaces, including a ballroom with early 19th century decor.
“We did the unveiling of BMW’s Z3 car there—had it out in the garden and draped the historic ballroom to be a high-tech theater,” he says, “and then moved the group upstairs to the 18th-century-style ballroom for the party. It was ‘wow’ fabulous.”
At Lowndes Grove Plantation, Crosby likes to stage blues, brew and barbecue events, with food service from the back of pickups and uplighting on the trees.
The key to venue selection success, he maintains, is determining client objectives for an event.
“Maybe it’s an incentive and everyone will be in a celebratory mood,” he says. “You can’t dance in some of Charleston’s historic venues because the old floors won’t take it, so we recommend the venue once we know more about what the customer is trying to achieve.”
Meeting Street holds some of his favorite venues, like the ballrooms of Hibernian Society Hall and South Carolina Society Hall.
On Broad Street, one little-known site offers many possibilities, he points out. The Confederate Home and Women’s College was once home only to descendants of Confederate soldiers. It retains some residents and about a dozen artists’ studios. Two ballrooms and a courtyard can be excellent platforms for many occasions, he says.
“We might split up the group—one for garden tours, one for an architectural tour, and another for a sailing tour of the harbor,” Crosby recommends. “Then we bring them all back together for a presentation of antique silver with the Charleston Silver Lady, Dawn Evers Corley. If the budget allows, we’ll send them all home with something unexpected, like a silver strawberry fork.”
And for that really exclusive occasion, tea and garden tours at one of Charleston’s historic homes can be memorable.
“All it takes is access—something we have plenty of,” Crosby declares.
