Stoke Show Chicago
A few weeks ago, while fighting my way through an overfull email inbox, that familiar ding drew my eye back to the top of the page. “You’re Invited to an Exclusive Ikon Passholder Event, “ the message’s subject line beckoned. In my head, I answered in Renée Zellweger’s voice: Ikon, you had me at “hello.”
A quick click-and-skim revealed the details of Ikon’s Stoke Party: a Friday, afterwork gathering with free food, an open bar, resort swag, raffle prizes, and virtual-reality heli-skiing. In a matter of hours, we’d wrangled up two ski-loving friends and a pair of babysitters for the posse of kiddos we’d be leaving behind. They’d get Domino’s and a movie, and we’d get stoked.
Offshore Rooftop at Navy Pier (venue images via Offshore Rooftop)
I have a soft spot for Navy Pier. I interned in their Marketing and Events Department during the summer of 2001. For $10/hour, I rode around on an electric bicycle, tended to visiting promotional events, and tried to learn Excel. In the years since, I’ve visited occasionally for events and while showing out-of-town guests the sights, but I hadn’t been there in a very long time. The Pier, always one of Chicago’s top attractions, has invented itself several times throughout its history, and I was excited to see that it had done so again in the years since my last visit. It even has its own boutique hotel now!
Ikon’s Stoke Show took place at one of the Pier’s newest jewels, Offshore Rooftop, a swanky indoor/outdoor bar and events space perched atop Festival Hall, Navy Pier’s convention center. Offshore’s wraparound glass provides an unobstructed view of Chicago’s real jewel, Lake Michigan, and the exterior glass walls open wide to provide easy access to the outdoor space, decked out for fall with comfortable lounge furniture, patio heaters, and fire tables.
After a quick check-in, we and our friends were handed an assortment of Ikon swag, one raffle ticket each, and told to listen for “the first raffle at 7:00.” We then headed up to the party.
Receiving an invite to a truly free event these days doesn’t happen often, but that’s exactly what we got. It’s as if Ikon said, “You know, these folks have put a lot into having the best ski season they can. Let’s kick it off for them in style!” Every drink, every delicious slider, even the valet parking (at a place where even self-park is exorbitantly priced): all totally free. Woman or man, ski or snowboard, young, old, or in-between, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy being romanced a little. I sure do!
At Stoke Night, Ikon and their participating vendors and resorts gave away top-flight clothing, gear, a pair of fantastic Ikon-branded Shotskis, and lots more. The four of us enjoyed our first (virtual) heli-skiing adventure courtesy of BC-based CMH Heli-Skiing.
Enjoying a virtual heli-skiing trip (and mentally planning an actual one)
If this had been the end of our Stoke story, we would have considered it a great night. It wasn’t the end, though. Some successful Ikon trivia earned the four of us fun, new, Ikon-branded Stance socks.
Oh! And that 7:00 Ikon pass raffle?
I won it. I won a full Ikon pass. That’s my Free Ikon Surprise Face right up there!
Even if I hadn’t won anything, Stoke Night absolutely would’ve been worth the cost of babysitting and pizza. For a quartet of busy, tired parents, it was a perfect evening out: crisp fall air, a jeans-and-sweaters “dress code,” free food and drink, the promise of skiing to come, and back home by 10:00. We aren’t sponsored by Ikon/Alterra and haven’t been compensated for this post, so my take is my own: if you can find a Stoke event near you, go. You’ll be glad you did!
