At Fair Hills Resort & Wildflower Golf Course

You may know Fair Hills Resort as a vacation spot, a place of relaxation for you and your family away from the busy every day; and while the resort offers exactly that, it also serves as a place for other types of celebration and retreat.

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At Fair Hills Resort & Wildflower Golf Course Fair Hills Resort Wildflower Golf Course

We’ve recapped before just how accommodating and unique of an experience the team at Fair Hills Resort offers businesses and other parties, but this summer we were able to experience that on another level—and we want to share that with you (meaning, yes, you can steal this idea for your business)!

Last month, Spotlight hosted the First Annual Spotlight Golf Invitational at Wildflower Golf Course. The day was filled with some (friendly) competition, a few broken tees, a boat ride around Pelican Lake, and burgers and prizes on the big porch. And right by our side for all of the ins and outs of hosting an event like this was the Fair Hills team, led by the Director of Operations at Wildflower Golf Course and Creative Director at Fair Hills Resort Emily Meyers. The day began at the Wildflower clubhouse, where the resort had coolers with grab-and-go lunches, plus a few drinks for the course. They played a Scramble game with Lone Ranger and Money Ball Competitions. And while Emily herself has led quite a handful of these events before, she hadn’t led this format—but was still more than willing and very efficient in going over rules and configurations with Mike to explain it best to the teams.

“When I was approached with the idea to host a golf tournament by the Fair Hills team, I jumped at the opportunity! We have partnered with them for the last few years on their marketing, hosted a Spotlight team retreat in 2022, and I have personally enjoyed the resort with my family for summer vacations for years. Whenever I have been at the resort, everything is top-notch so I jumped at the idea of hosting some of our clients and partners to a casual, no-pressure tournament. They pulled out the red carpet and our guests were impressed with the experience and it gave us the opportunity to strengthen business relationships. The best part was they took care of everything. I highly recommend doing your next corporate event at Fair Hills and Wild Flower Golf Course.” – Mike Dragosavich, CEO, Spotlight

After a team huddle to go over the rules once more, the players headed off to their designated holes and began the game with a shotgun start.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent perusing the rolling hills of Wildflower. The lush green landscape and bright blue skies brought forth a perfect summer day for not only golfing, but spending time out of the office, out of the city, and in good company of others. While some can take their play pretty seriously, there were, of course, times for good laughs too.

With the game coming to an end, the evening was just starting. Golfers took their carts across the highway to the Fair Hills Resort area to get some well-deserved appetizers and drinks and get ready for an evening boat ride.

We hopped on the 55-foot Big Pelican Pontoon boat in the warm sun and cruised along the bay, admiring the landscape that is created on the Minnesotan lakeside. Back at the resort, some stayed back inside The Perch on Pelican, one of the resort’s many meeting spaces, complete with small plates like bacon-wrapped scallions, a variety of dips, and many more small bites, plus a full-service bar.

While everyone was decompressing from their day out on the greens, Emily and the team worked behind the scenes to prep for the tournament awards. We smoothly transitioned from boat and bar to the perfect summertime spread of burgers with all of the fixings upstairs on the deck. If the food won’t catch someone’s attention, the view sure will. Attached to the main lodge, The Deck overlooks Pelican Lake, configured for a meal at this time but can be adjusted for a cocktail hour or even lounging.

With a bronze light from the June sun coloring everything around, the sounds of the water on the shore, and the late evening sun filtering shadows onto the deck, Spotlight CEO Mike Dragosavich and Director of Client Management Jenny Johnson handed out awards like gift cards to Brewhalla, Mezzaluna, Sandy’s Donuts, Boiler Room, cash and much more.

As the day came to a close and guests packed up their clubs, the Fair Hills team checked that everything was wrapped up and made sure to get one more “Do you need anything?” in by the time everyone was loaded and heading to the highway.

A few guests’ schedules allowed them to stay overnight in the resort’s modern and cozy cabins. The cabins were prepped for guests and after a day on the sunny course, people welcomed the beds and comfort that can only be found resting lakeside and away from the city.

To cap the experience at Fair Hills, those staying grabbed a filling and delicious breakfast at the dining hall the next morning, featuring almost every favorite: pancakes, french toast, eggs any style, sausages, breakfast potatoes (yes, the good crispy kind!), caramel and cinnamon rolls, and so much more! As if that wasn’t enough, of course, on the way out, a few of us had to stop at the cafe inside the lodge for some caffeine for the road.

“I was excited to spend the night at Fair Hills after the tournament,” Jenny said. “We enjoyed a boat ride on Pelican Lake to Zorbaz and came back to enjoy the serenity of the resort and celebrate the success of our first golf tournament. The accommodations were very comfortable and I enjoyed the delicious breakfast made by the Fair Hills staff in the morning. I left with a stylish new Fair Hills sweatshirt and a vanilla latte from the lobby before heading back to Fargo!”

Needless to say, they made hosting 56 guests at the first Invitational stress-free, and the easy-going energy that Fair Hills Resort always exudes sure helped!

If you’re interested in hosting an event at Fair Hills Resort and/or Wildflower Golf Course, head to fairhillsresort.com/meetings-retreats to get started!