The Second Annual Aspen Croquet Cup Merges Sport, Spirits, and Philanthropy

As told to Hilary Stunda
Images by Lion Harp Photography

Patrick Davila General Manager, Hotel Jerome

The Aspen Croquet Cup was sort of a transplant from Napa. The Napa hotel that I was involved in had a long history of croquet—we used to do a croquet tournament there and even had a croquet pro on staff. I invited Henning and Richard to play at my house, and after several bottles of Champagne, we thought it would be a great idea to do something for the community, presented by the best hotels in Aspen, and create this friendly rivalry. 

The Meadows has an amazing lawn for it, so we invited some chefs, friends, and others, and we raised almost $50,000. There’s a lot of skill involved, but if you don’t have any skill or haven’t played before, you can still play and have a lot of fun. And you can drink while playing, which is even better.

Richard Stettner Vice President of Aspen Campus Facilities and Operations, Aspen Institute

Each team designates a local nonprofit as the beneficiary of their entry fee. I sit on the board for Challenge Aspen, so that’s who my entry fee went toward. Most people choose to support a nonprofit relevant to their line of business or that they have a personal connection to. Henning and Patrick, you both chose nonprofits you’re associated with.

Henning Rahm General Manager, The Little Nell

The idea of giving back to the community and bringing together leaders in the community and in the hospitality world was one of the main reasons I was so excited about it. It’s never really been done before. We’ve seen local culinary talents come together and compete in cook-off competitions, but not the general managers and the hotels. It really takes it to the next level when three hotels come together to provide the assets, labor, support, and help executing the event in addition to throwing in the food components. It just elevates the event to the finest.

Croquet is a fine sport. Last year we had 150 or so spectators, making for a very quality event. Since this was the first one that Patrick hosted in Aspen—I don’t know how many you hosted in Napa, Patrick—but it’s continuing the success story. We create excitement around the participating players and teams giving back to their chosen organizations, and then hand over the winning purse—all ticket sales and proceeds from the silent auction—to one of the nonprofits.

Stettner

We have to credit Patrick for getting me and Henning to come to his house to play croquet that afternoon. He knew what he was doing before he invited us down there. It’s great that it’s friendly competition. The Aspen Meadows Resort and its general manager, Justin Todd, is involved as well. And you look at the restaurants—from Mawa’s Kitchen to dining concepts from each of the hotels to all the others—the camaraderie was fantastic. Some high-profile members of the community turned out to play, support, and ask, “What can I do to give more?”

Davila

We brought in a pro—the head of the U. S. Croquet Association, who happens to live in Denver. He emceed and refereed the games, which was key.

Stettner

So many people came by to see what it was all about. Then they’re like, “We want to sponsor a team!” I think with the growing enthusiasm in year two and on, restaurants that didn’t participate this year might want to participate next year. There’s definitely excitement for the years to come. There were people who came and said, “I’m going to buy a team next year no matter what. Can I buy a team now?”

Davila

Croquet was foreign to most. I think that’s what made it so fun.

Stettner

There were some memorable moments. When Patrick was up there and auctioned off the slot to play the top team, I think they paid $2,500 to come back in! A lady who had never played croquet before partnered with the chief engineer at the Aspen Meadows Resort, and they ended up winning the entire tournament. And then, second to that, when we presented the check for $24,000 to the CEO of Challenge Aspen—that was spectacular because she had no idea how much money we were handing to them. It was out of the blue. That was really special.