Following President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nov. 15 meeting at the Filoli estate, staff had 48 hours to set up the annual holiday display instead of the typical two weeks.
The palatial backdrop of President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nov. 15 meeting at the Filoli estate in Woodside was certainly captured in photos, but behind the scenes, Director of Museum Collections Kevin Wisney and his team were working around the clock, knowing they’d have 48 hours after the event to complete a holiday decoration process that normally takes two full weeks.
Filoli’s leadership received requests for details about the property and the feasibility of hosting an event related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference a couple of weeks prior to the meeting. But Wisney said they weren’t sure who they were or what exactly was wanted. The team is no stranger to hosting important events and meetings, including executives and dignitaries. And the property provides an ideal space for movie scenes, which have been featured in films and shows such “The Wedding Planner,” “Joy Luck Club” and “Dynasty.”
But less than a week before the president’s visit, the team learned exactly who was on the guest list and switched into high gear. While organizing such an event warrants a high degree of planning on its own, the team’s particular challenge lay in the overlap with holiday season preparations, which requires installing 50 Christmas trees, a 210-foot light tunnel, 3,600 strands of lights stretching 25 miles and 62 wreaths — all with 30 staff members. While they hoped the holiday decor would be a welcome addition to the president’s meeting — as it would keep scheduling derailments to a minimum — their instructions were ultimately to abstain from the seasonal ambiance.
“They said, ‘this is a really important meeting. We don’t think it fits the tenor of the meeting, and also because the Chinese are not Christmas-focused, we don’t want to insult anyone,’” Wisney said. “So some of the folks that are in leadership and myself met that night and sat down and just said, ‘Can we do this? Do we want to do this? Is this possible?’”
Simply delaying the set-up was not an option either, as two days after the president’s visit, the property was hosting an important dinner, requiring a full holiday display.
Recommended for you
“We had our opening night dinner for our board, major donors and other important guests, so it had to be ready by Friday night at 4 p.m.,” Wisney said.
Sure enough, shortly after both world leaders left the premises, all involved staff members descended on the property with an unmatched all-hands-on-deck approach that was ultimately successful.
“I don’t think that after this experience — of the presidential visit and then the 48-hour turnaround into one of our biggest seasons that we ever have — I don’t think that there’s any challenge that could be presented to us that we couldn’t meet. So it’s partly really empowering. It’s also partly really frightening,” Wisney said, joking he doesn’t hope they’ve set a 48-hour precedent for future holiday seasons.
But with back-to-back events executed without a hitch, the team is ready for visitors to enjoy the property’s attractions, which now includes the signatures of both President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in its guestbook.
“It was one of the most exhausting, exhilarating, beautiful, wonderful, amazing experiences that I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Wisney said.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.