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Quietude Event Center Opens in Tuftonboro

Published Wednesday Oct 12, 2022

Author Matthew J. Mowry


The Quietude events center. (Courtesy photo)


The events industry was decimated by the pandemic when virtual events became the norm. Now as people meet in person again, Ember, a corporate event producer out of Newburyport, Ma., is launching its first center in Tuftonboro.

Ember’s owners launched Ember Escapes, which will develop small venues designed to “help professionals ignite their creative fire.” Quietude, its first events center, recently opened to help “companies build back company culture with in-person connections.”

In 2021, Co-Founders Chris Gasbarro and Kathy DelMedico (pictured) acquired a 1904 Adirondack lodge in Tuftonboro designed by Castle in the Clouds architect J. Williams Beal. They then invested $600,000 in renovating the property.

Surrounded by 60 private acres, the lodge was valued at $1.2 million even though it had sat dormant for the past 30 years.

Quietude, which opened in July, accommodates up to 13 overnight guests and offers a variety of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces for 20 or more participants. There are platforms for yoga, fire pits, trout fishing at a nearby pond and walking trails.

“We’re intentional about space where people can gather and have conversations,” says DelMedico, president of Ember who has planned experiential events for 50 to 5,000 attendees for such companies as Staples, Timberland, Microsoft and Oracle.

She says, prior to the pandemic, Ember had 20 staffers designing multimillion-dollar events around the globe. When COVID hit, the company was forced to lay off 75% of its team. Then they quickly switched to virtual events.

Among those was a three-day online conference that included surprises and food delivered to participants’ homes, game shows, awards and live entertainment. Content was shortened to 20 minutes and included more Q&A, says Gasbarro, vice president of strategy. (He started his career as a touring guitar tech before working for event-industry firms Party by Design and MassAV and now plans events like shutting down Wall Street for an IPO event or collaborating with Taylor Swift, Keds, and Nordstrom to launch a new shoe.)

Now as we enter the third year of the pandemic, DelMedico says there is fatigue with virtual meetings. So, when the Ember leadership team conducted its most recent strategic plan, one of their key plans was to open a facility that could accommodate smaller meetings.

“We wanted to have a gathering spot where we could do things our way,” says Gasbarro. And, DelMedico adds, after being apart for so long, people are eager to come together and be creative. “You feel more energized and accomplish something,” she says.

Gasbarro says Ember Escapes attends to event details at Quietude, from arranging private chefs to team building activities. “Clients come to us when things get stale and they need another approach,” he says.

Ember Escapes will also offer a subscription model for those who want to access the meeting space four to five times annually. They also have plans to expand the facility by adding a camping area and a gatehouse cottage in the near future.

For more information, visit emberescapes.com.

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