It seems like a new restaurant opens every week in Central Florida. And being in the center of the entertainment and theme park world, for the opening event to stand out, it means having more than food and drinks for a memorable "ribbon cutting". Besides sending out invitations to the VIPs and key media, creating the event flow, planning the menu, and more, I wrote a "blessing" as an attention-getting way to kick off the grand opening night.
After the presentation, a friend asked which book or movie the words came from as they were so mythical and "Disney-esque," they had to come from a Greco-Roman story. He was right about the mythical part, and it was a story only the words and dramatic scene were written from the theater of my "Monte-esque" mind.
For your reading pleasure:
The olive has been held in high esteem since the beginning of time. Myth has it that the Goddess Athena introduced the precious fruit of the olive to the ancient Greeks and they named a city for her.
Homer called the oil of its fruit, “liquid gold.”
Hippocrates, considered the father of modern medicine said, “Let the food be the medicine and the medicine be the food.”
With a multitude of uses – for light, food, and healing – the olive and its oil has been revered for its magical properties, history even deeming it greater than the power and speed of Poseidon’s horse.
I present the olive.
A precious seed
Born forth from this small fruit
Placed with care by hand
Connected to Earth
Enriched by soil
Peppered by rain
This olive doth grow to be
A life-giving tree
The harvest cometh forth
Bountiful and mythical
Most blessed fuel
Oh nourishing food
Hail its healing tenents
Treasure guarded by royalty
And reveled in world religions
Now an Olive tree blossoms in Orlando
So we celebrate nature’s gift tonight
And with this act
We commence a new flame
Of a forever blessed light.
Ladies and gentlemen
Raise your glass and toast to the grand opening of The Black Olive.
Now, here is a peak at the grand opening ceremony:
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