A few days ago Dori invited me to attend Yoga at the Great Lawn, an event sponsored by Flavorpill. She won a ticket and was able to invite 3 more people. This was supposed to be the world’s largest yoga event with over 10,000 people. Shortly after accepting her invite, I received an e-mail with some more details about the event:
WHEN: Tuesday, June 22 – 5:30pm check in
WHERE: The Great Lawn, 81st St and Central Park West or at 80th St and 5th Ave (Once you enter Central Park, signs and event staff will clearly direct you to the Great Lawn)
Upon check in you will receive a JetBlue yoga mat, a ChicoBag, made of 100% recycled plastic, and other complimentary goodies. Please do not bring your own yoga mat – everyone will receive a JetBlue mat made by Gaiam for the event and it’s yours to keep!
From 5:30pm on, you can enjoy live performances by Reggie Watts, 13 Hands, Buddy Wakefield, and Wah!. At 7:00pm Elena Brower will take the stage, accompanied by bassist Garth Stevenson, and will begin yoga class. The class is for all yoga levels. Following class, you are invited to enjoy live drumming by O’Nkosi Rhythm.
I was very excited about the yoga class, especially since my legs have been sore from my attempted run and spin class! I was also thrilled about the free yoga mats since mine is about 6 years old! I got even more excited when I saw that Exhale Spa would be there giving out free class passes! Yes please!
I went straight to the park after work yesterday. I arrived around 6:20 pm and called Dori to meet her. Turns out she was on the same subway as me so we found each other right away! We saw the extremely long line running miles out of Central Park.
“Do we really want to wait in this line?”
We asked each other this question several times and decided we would wait 15 minutes to see if the line was moving at all. We decided that if the line did not move, we would go have a drink instead. 15 minutes went by and the line was moving little by little. We decided to wait a little longer. We both really wanted the free yoga mats! Next thing you know, 40 minutes go by and we are still in line. We had no idea how much longer the line was in front of us. We had already waited an hour so we just couldn’t get ourselves to leave. We decided that if it started to rain, we would leave.
The time was now 7:00. The event was supposed to start at 7:00. There were still thousands of people in front of us, and behind us! I started to tweet Mari and Jess to see if the yoga class had started yet. By 7:30, it still had not started. The people inside were getting angry because they had been waiting for hours to start some yoga.
The people in line were getting angry because we thought we were going to miss the entire yoga session. Dori and I were so annoyed that we decided we would just get our yoga mats and leave if we ever made it in. We needed some tequila. Here is the line around 7:30.
And then it started to rain. We were so close to the front. We waited for 2 hours…we couldn’t give up now! Luckily I had an umbrella. 10 minutes went by and it started to downpour. All of the sudden we hear the park security yelling that the event has been canceled. We all had to leave. Dori and I were almost at the front. We were NOT leaving without our free yoga mats!! The entire park turned into a frenzy. We made a run for it towards the Great Lawn and tried to find the mats. I heard one of the employees say, “There are no mats left, please exit the park!”
Me, “NO WAY. I did not just wait in line for 2 hours for nothing!!”
We searched and searched and could not find any mats. They were giving out tons of free Smart Water. It was teaming rain outside. The last thing I needed was free water! Dori and I were fuming. We decided to just make our way out of the park and go home. Imagine 10,000 people trying to exit a park at once. Peace, Love, Namaste? I don’t think so.
The rain was so bad that we had to hop on the first bus we saw. I took the subway home. At 9:30 pm, I made it home with nothing but a wet umbrella and a piece of chocolate cake from Otarian.
To top it off, I saw a guy with THREE yoga mats on my train!!
I saw another girl with 2 yoga mats. Flavorpill did not prepare for this event at all! The doors opened at 5:30 pm and the event was supposed to start at 7:00 pm. Did they really expect 10,000 people to make it into a park in an hour and a half?? They should have opened the doors at 12:00 in the afternoon! They could have at least warned everyone to arrive early since the lines would be long! The event was also supposed to be rain or shine. I received this e-mail a few hours before the event:
SUBJECT: Yoga at the Great Lawn: Rain, shine, or rainbows… it’s on!
Hello,
Yoga at the Great Lawn is happening!
We’re up here at the park and there are a few drops, but it’s moving over us.
The National Weather Service for Central Park says at 4:10pm on June 22:
“Late Afternoon: A slight chance of precipitation,” and the Parks Dept tells us it’s a “light shower passing over and will soon be gone.”
By the time the event starts, we expect no rain.
The stage looks amazing and we’ll be starting up as the gates open at 5:30pm.
We’re expecting a capacity crowd so arrive early.
Remember, no mats, as we have you covered.
See you at the Lawn!
Namaste,
Flavorpill
Rain or shine? I guess Flavorpill did not check with the park beforehand to see if the yoga could continue in the rain. Now they are supposed to announce a new rain date. I will not be attending. It was a waste of 3 hours and a huge disappointment. A planned night of relaxation and fun turned into a night of chaos and stress. I plan on taking a nice yoga class at my gym tomorrow morning instead. At least I know a yoga mat will be provided.
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Ugh! Total bummer. Regis was even talking about it yesterday morning on Live! I would be so annoyed. It’s a great idea, and would be very cool to see 10,000 people doing yoga in Central Park, but there are a lot of logistics that goes into an event like that and obviously Flavorpill didn’t plan accordingly. I hope you enjoyed the class this morning!
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How lame! Now I guess I don’t feel so bad for missing it. The Great Lawn is freaking huge. Last time I went was for a concert and we got there HOURS before to get good places!
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Yeah I sympathize… I went a little earlier (5:45) and the line was all the way in big loops and circles out to CPW — I guessed about a kilometer long with maybe 3000 people in it, and not moving. So I walked all the way up to the front to see what was going on and whether there was any chance this could work. They were letting people in through a narrow single file line and people were not going in very fast. Around 6:00 when I was there they’d been letting people in for a half hour and they seemed to just have a few people checking tickets handing out water and mat and doing some security checking. I think maybe 10 people a minute were going in. I did the math and realized this could not work in time to start a yoga class with everybody and that I would never get from the back of the line to the front in a reasonable amount of time.
So I bailed and avoided the whole thing. I will say the people in line were a very cool looking bunch of people and I couldn’t think of a nicer line to stand it, but I am not a good line-waiter so I just went home and took my class this morning. My teacher was one of the ones on stage and she told us this morning about the rain so I didn’t feel so bad. Next time, though, the organizers need to have a lot more people checking yogis in — this was a simple math problem they could have anticipated — 10,000 people, 20 people per minute (or whatever) = 500 minutes — duh — this isn’t going to work people…. OK I hope next time is better.
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MissyMaintains Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
You are lucky you left when you did. I thought they should have started handing out yoga mats to all the people waiting in line too. At least you got a nice yoga class this morning with one of the teachers
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Dori Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Bob, you are so smart. I wish Missy and I did what you did, would have saved us a lot of stress. I’m not a good line-waiter either, I actually get very panicky and have had panic attacks in lines before. Last night was not worth it at all, tequila would have been much better!
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That’s annoying and extremely disappointing. They obviously didn’t do a great job planning..would have been really cool if it was better organized!
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So sorry it didn’t go well. There is nothing worse than not being prepared at an event. Event planning is part of my job and I am super critical when I go to events that are plain crappy.
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what a pain in the a!!!!! i would have been FURIOUS especially if i saw that dude with 3 mats. you should have grabbed one and made a run for it for sure. i was thinking about going to that and so glad i didn’t and i had a work event too
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I went too and I thought it was a DISASTER! I couldn’t believe how poorly they had the entry arranged with only two ways in for all those people. I hope that they’ll rethink the logistics for the raindate. Even with VIP access, it took me 20 minutes just to WALK the entire length of the line and get to the front – I knew there was no way everyone was making it in. Sorry you didn’t get a yoga mat for your trouble though
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I hate that you and Dori had such a lame experience! I’m really shocked that they didn’t hand out yoga mats to those of you left in line. I actually saw some when we were exciting the park. People were trying to take them, but they weren’t letting anyone have them. Hope you had a great yoga class this morning!
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I am speechless! what a mess, I cannot believe they would attempt to pull off such a large event and not double check every possible thing that could go wrong!
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Flavorpill didn’t plan for this. They should have confirmed with the park that the event was allowed to be “rain or shine” before emailing 10,000 people saying it was. Obviously it was not, as the park said that events cannot go on on the event of a thunderstorm. Would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble.
The line was ridiculous. Again, they did not plan. You cannot invite 10,000 people to an event and open the doors 1.5 hours before it starts. What were they thinking?
Lastly, the mat issue. By the time we wanted to get to the front of the line, all we wanted were our free mats that we waited 2 hours for (when we could have gone to Target and bought the $10 mat ourselves!) — and then they refused to let us have one??? They need to deliver on their promises. It is unfair that some people got mats and some didn’t be cause Flavorpill didn’t know how to hold a big event.
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oh Missy I am so sorry you had to endure that! I freakin HATE the rain and i was about to walk Mickey when it started to pour! I hope you get a chance to complain! that is terrible customer service. How are the brownies at Otarian???? mm.
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Missy Maintains Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
The brownies were probably the only good part of the night!
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Ugh, this sucks!! So sorry it wasn’t what you expected, I would have been PISSED!! Sometimes you just gotta go with your gut and get that drink
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bahh i would have been so pissed, and would have totally asked that guy with the THREE yoga mats to lend a sistah one
hehe
damn that chocolate cake looks good though!! next year…no workout in the park! LOL
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I had the exact same experience with you. A waste of 3 hours. And no yoga mat!
I was really mad when I saw all those people walking away with 2 or 3 mats. I will NOT be attending the make up date. That’s for sure!
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Dori Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:14 pm
And I heard there were NO portapotties — for 10,000 people!
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I’m so sorry you had such a bad experience. Maybe we can get some REAL yoga soon!
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yikes that sounds like a disaster. I would have been pissed if I wasted two hours like that for nothing. I can’t believe they canceled it even though it was rain or shine!! Also, how rude of that guy to get 3 mats while other ppl had none.. I wonder how he managed to do that!
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I’m sorry I had the laugh at the irony of the people wanting to do the yoga getting angry.
I would be pissed as all hell (especially after seeing that dude with multiple mats). When I am that mad about stuff, I usually write a letter to the company. It never hurts to voice your opinion! At least you got your chocolate cake.
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I’m sorry that you had such a bad experience…I hope you give them a chance to make it up to you when they try again =)
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What a disaster!!!! And, I hate people who think they are better than everyone else so they take three or two free gifts. They probably said something like “I am getting this for my friend who is coming….” HA! That stinks you waited in line for so long, and got nothing out of it. But if anything it was a memory and an interesting, people-watching experience
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I’m so sorry to hear this was such a disaster….but it was such a pleasure to see you last night at the Eggland’s Best event! I am soooo cited to have chatted with you and caught up…let’s set a date for you, Dori and I to get together soon as I’d love to see you ladies and chit chat some more. Again, so great to see you last nighty and I’m looking forward to getting together again soon. Have a fabulous day and good luck with your last weeks of IIN!!!!
Enjoy the sunshine today and stay cool in this insane heat wave, hehe..
xoxo
Aims
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I had a terrible time too! but at least my experience was not as bad as yours. I work near the park so I got in line at 5:20. we were inside by 6:30, and we waited and waited and waited….until they came out and said they were waiting on the park for approval to conduct the class. I immediately thought of that “rain or shine” email! we were willing to wait, but once it started to rain hard, we left. what a total disappointment. (except for the chocolate cake, which was awesome!!)
anyway, I saw today on the flavorpill website that there is going to be a rain date and that people who didn’t get mats this last time will have guaranteed entry. so maybe you will get your mat after all!
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MissyMaintains Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Ugh sorry you had to go through that too! I’m wondering how they will know who got a mat and who didn’t! I think I’ll spend my time with tequila on the night of the rain date lol.
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Meghann Reply:
June 25th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I was thinking that too! Really, I think anyone who went should get the chance to go to the rain date…since no one really got anything
have a great weekend!
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doors rule!!
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