Another Year of Pivots Leads to Exciting New Events for Kitchen Tour

Meredith Shields

For the third year in a row, one of the Junior League of Washington (JLW)’s most anticipated events has been caught in the crux of required change due to the pandemic. This year, that change resulted in an awe-inspiring outcome. The 2022 Kitchen Tour Committee, led by Annie Morgan and Sophie

Barry, has embraced not one, but two pivots over the course of the year. Replacing the traditional Kitchen Tour event, this year the Committee met members where they are through a combination of virtual pre-events, a virtual recipe collection, and an in person garden party with an international and multicultural theme.

After much debate, the Committee determined that 2022 would have to be another year of change from the typical in person, “kitchen tour” format. However, exactly what the 2022 format would be was a moving target as the world continued to approach in person events with cautious optimism. By remaining flexible and embracing the uncertainty of the moment, the Committee created a successful series of events that engaged women in different ways.

“We’ve been finding the energy to go with the flow this year,” says 2021-2022

Co-Chair Annie Morgan. “After this became another year of pivoting, earlier this year Sophie Barry [Co-Chair] and I decided that the most important aspect of the event was for members to feel engaged and excited about the League and Kitchen

Tour’s work.”

“This year, no matter what the format, we knew that we wanted to center the

Kitchen Tour around a theme of cultural sharing and diversity. After all, hosting is a way of bringing people together and exchanging ideas - something that eventually we’ll all be able to do again,” shared 2021-2022 Co-Chair Sophie Barry.

As such, this year, the Committee’s range of events have embraced a theme of cultural sharing and international inspiration including a virtual international cocktail class, a virtual Italian cooking class, a virtual recipe exchange, and finally a pinnacle in person garden party.

The year kicked off with the repeat of a wildly successful addition to the 2021 Kitchen Tour season with a virtual recipe collection. More than 100 recipes were collected across the League with dishes spanning from Southern comfort foods to Caribbean entrees. Donors received a digital booklet of the compiled recipes for inspiration in their own kitchens.

On April 7, 2022, there were approximately 30 attendees for the Committee’s virtual event, “A Taste of Italy: an Interactive Cooking Class” with Professor Francesca Seaman. Seaman led the class in creating a Campari cocktail, a spring salad, and a saffron risotto with asparagus and shrimp. This event followed an “Around the World Craft Cocktail Class” in February where approximately 30 members joined Chrissy Sheffey of Charismatic Creations to explore favorite international cocktails and mocktails.

While the Committee initially anticipated having an in person tour, Morgan and Barry quickly found homeowners weren’t quite ready to have a few hundred people tour their home, even with COVID-19 precautions. Therefore, in response to a need to pivot from the traditional Kitchen Tour event, the idea to create the 2022 Kitchen Tour Garden Party was born. On April 30, the Kitchen Tour Committee hosted approximately 200 attendees at JLW’s historic Loughborough House for an elegant taste of springtime around the world. The event utilized the League’s indoor and outdoor spaces to highlight local and international cultures through carefully curated dining options, musical selections, and decor. “We were so excited to welcome League members and friends in person as we celebrated our perseverance as a group and the diversity that makes this League so special!” said Morgan and Barry. •

Greeting JLW Garden Party attendees. Guests enjoying a sweet treat

Photo courtesy of Julianna Dinsmore