If you don’t mind packing a three-course meal, a white table and chairs, crisp white linens, cutlery and glasses, this dining experience might be for you.
And you must love a crowd.
The fifth annual Dîner en Blanc Okanagan took place on the lawns overlooking Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna at Quail’s Gate Winery Thursday night.
As in 2016, 1,100 people dressed in all white clothing sat down to dinner together.
“It’s always a challenge to find a beautiful location for 1,100 people for a picnic,” said co-host Alison Love. “I think we’re going to have to continue to be very creative about our locations.”
The location for the dinner is always a tightly guarded secret. Participants park their cars at a designated location and board school buses with all their picnic gear.
Their destination is revealed on arrival.
“Every year it’s a big contest to guess where it could be.”
Begun in Paris, France 26 years ago, Dîner en Blanc has become an annual event in 70 cities around the world.
“Originally, it started with this gentleman and he was in Paris,” Love explains. “He was just getting some friends together. So the whole ideas is, ‘Just wear white and we’ll all meet up.’ And as it grew, friends invited other friends and so it was, ‘Wear white. We all wear white. That’s how we know each other is part of it.’ And so it’s just grown from that.”
“On their 25th anniversary they did 25,000 people that came to Diner en Blanc Paris,” Love said. “That would have been a big party. That’s a lot of white.”
This year, guests had a choice to pay for a catered diner from the Old Vines restaurant on site.
To attend, guests must be invited. You can register for the wait list.
Tickets are $40 plus a $9 membership fee, if you make it onto the guest list.
Wine must be purchased on site, limiting guests to packing non-alcoholic drinks.
At the end of the event everything must be packed up and taken away by guests who are bused back to their vehicles.
Bad behaviour and breaking the event rules are frowned on, according to the event website.
“Members who disrespect Dîner en Blanc rules will be disinvited from the following editions. Their name and email will be black-listed, prohibiting them from registering for future editions.”
And while some believe the rules, like only bringing a square, folding table of between 71 and 81 cm, are prohibitive to a good time, organizers disagree.
“While these rules may seem restrictive, one must keep in mind that Le Dîner en Blanc is not an ordinary event. The evening takes place in a public place that was not designed for such a purpose and is often very busy. It must necessarily be very controlled in order for future editions to be held. Such measures never taint the festive and friendly spirit that prevails each year.”
Despite the rules, the event is always a sell-out.
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