Greetings from Hank!

A few weeks ago, we completed our annual planning meetings, and our focus was how to enhance the guest experience. Normally these meetings are very strategic in nature, but we knew this year we wanted to “get tactical” right away in what additional amenities to offer. We carefully considered all of the wonderful feedback you have given us through spa, villa, wedding and corporate events surveys as well as Tasting Room and Grapevine Grill comment cards, and we thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about your visits to Chaumette. Because of this, our ideas as a management team flowed for two days in our Executive Boardroom, and naturally, the hard part was deciding what new things we can offer guests based on our resources.
Our plan is multifaceted, and it includes items such as adding some terrific new services to our spa menu, providing a greater variety of dining option at our outdoor pool and designing a comprehensive wine education program required for all of our Tasting Room wine educators in order to best serve you. We plan to expand our outdoor kitchen facilities at The Barn at Chaumette so that we may provide more of a variety of menu options for guests. Our Marketing Director Jennifer Johnson is excited to work with the St. Louis Audubon Society to host educational birding walks on property, in celebration of the Society’s 100th anniversary. Chef Adam is concepting a collaborative culinary event here at Chaumette with our St Louis chef friends. My wife Jackie is thrilled to offer a newly-redecorated ballroom for brides and host a 2nd Annual Balloon Glow this September. The list goes on, and we are so excited to offer an even greater diversity of experiences for you this year.

Connecting with the St. Louis Audubon Society is quite exciting, as this group is particularly interested in collaborating, because we arenearly adjacent to the John J. Audubon Trail and the Mark Twain National Forest. We have identified on our own over the years some 35 different birds on the Chaumette property. A few of these are: blue bird, cardinal, finch, titmouse, sparrows of various kinds, dove, barn and hoot owls, duck, geese, blue heron, starling, robin, blue jay, mockingbird, meadow lark, red-bellied and pileated woodpecker, whippoorwill, chuck will’s widow, the scarlet tanager, juncos, crows, grackle, the red tail hawk, vulture, thrusher, wren, killdeer, fox sparrow, hummingbirds and chickadee.

What an exciting way to celebrate the centennial of the St. Louis Audubon Society ~ hosting bird watching walks on our existing trails, while considering the likelihood of seeing the same species that John J. Audubon saw during his years here in Ste. Genevieve more than 175 years ago!

Great things are happening this March ~ creative Lenten specials on Friday evenings from Chef Adam, a second restaurant, Lambay’s India, on Saturday evenings in The Genevieve Room and more, described below.

We are so happy spring is near,  and we hope to see you again soon!

Best,

Hank