点评:We had come to SM following the pandemic renovation/upgrade expecting great things. The horses and the competitions were excellent, but it seems that SM is still mostly catering to the company crowds in the Skyboxes. We had purchased tables at the “updated” West Grandstand (google Spruce Meadow build for the future articles), and the email and phone communication beforehand was professionally encouraging. When we arrived on 6/16, not many staff knew what was supposed to happen with this “new thing”. There was confusion as to whether we were supposed to get wrist ribbons (yes), who had them (gate? grandstand staff who had yet to arrive?), and what exactly we got with the seats. At one point in time we were told we could order from table side, but you ended up still having to go to the concession stands (only one supervisor knew the opening time; and some closed at 7PM) to buy food. The chairs and small tables are the same metallic bolted-to-ground design as lower row seats, and the upper row of tables had obstructed view of the large digital screen. View from the general admission grass area ended up better than from the “new” tables/chairs (already looking beat up). With the echo created by the concrete back wall, crying babies and yapping dogs easily drowned out the announcers.
For horse and equestrian sports aficionados, SM is still a great weekend outing for the young family during the right competitions. Otherwise, SM has a long way to go to cater to the non-company crowd who wants a nice event (eg, MLB type experience with upscale food and cash bars) without opting for the $4000 tables or $250 all-you-can-eats.
翻译:我们在大流行病翻新/升级之后来到 SM,期待着美好的事情。马匹和比赛都很棒,但 SM 似乎仍然主要迎合 Skybox 中的公司人群。我们在“更新的”西看台(谷歌云杉草甸为未来的文章构建)购买了桌子,事先的电子邮件和电话沟通在专业上令人鼓舞。当我们 6 月 16 日到达时,没有多少员工知道这个“新事物”会发生什么。我们是否应该获得腕带(是的),谁拥有腕带(登机口?尚未到达的看台工作人员?),以及我们到底得到了什么座位,这令人困惑。有一次我们被告知可以从餐桌边点餐,但最终你还是得去小卖部(只有一名主管知道营业时间;有些在晚上 7 点就关门了)买食物。椅子和小桌子与下排座椅采用相同的金属螺栓固定在地面的设计,而上排桌子则遮挡了大数字屏幕的视线。从一般入场草地区域看到的景色比从“新”桌子/椅子上看到的景色更好(看起来已经破旧了)。由于混凝土后墙产生的回声,哭闹的婴儿和吠叫的狗很容易淹没播音员的声音。
对于马术运动爱好者来说,SM 仍然是年轻家庭在合适的比赛期间周末郊游的好地方。否则,SM 还有很长的路要走,才能满足想要举办精彩活动的非公司人群(例如,MLB 类型的高档食品和现金吧体验),而不选择 4000 美元的餐桌或 250 美元的自助餐。