[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto’s Diner en Blanc pops up at Fort York"

[rfmcdonald]

Even though Toronto can be a frustrating city at times, with its yawning divisions and its inhabitants' structural insecurities and the rest, sometimes it can pull off really cool things on a grand scale. The most recent example of this is the apparent success of the city's inaugural Diner en Blanc yesterday at Toronto's Fort York The description of the event by Noor Javed in the Toronto Star makes me smile.

Dressed in all white, food and umbrellas in tow, hundreds of guests braved the wet weather to attend Dîner en Blanc, the city’s inaugural impromptu dinner party hosted on the grounds of historic Fort York.

The location for the party had been kept a secret from attendees until the very last minute, and many who came by chartered buses found out only when they had arrived.

“We didn’t know until we were literally here,” said Sana Ansari, who brought her friend Hena Awan — and two ponchos — along. She had come because it was “one of those unique Toronto events you just can’t miss.” And even the rain hadn’t deterred her from making the trek from Mississauga.

Others said the weather added to the ambience.

“It’s beautiful here, even with the rain,” said Dave Winter from Toronto, who had set up his table with flowers, champagne flutes and silverware.

“How often do you get to do something like this?” he said.

While diners sat under the cloudy skies, holding umbrellas with one hand and eating with the other, live bands played in the background, adding to the ambience of the night.

This was Toronto’s first attempt at Dîner en Blanc, an event that began in 1988 in Paris. The idea caught on, and similar dinners take place around the world including in Singapore and New York.

At a Toronto test run last year, some 400 guests dined in the Distillery District. This year, 1,400 people registered to be part of the real thing. More than 3,000 were on a waiting list, said organizer Jordan Fogle.