Dîner en Blanc returns in Vancouver

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Le Dîner en Blanc

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When: Aug. 18

Where: Location TBA

Tickets and info: Vancouver.dinerenblanc.com

Started in 1988 by François Pasquier, the original Le Dîner en Blanc de Paris was meant to be a fun summer soiree with friends.

In the days of landlines and no text messages, the assemblage of acquaintances and confidants decided to wear all white in order to easily identify one another at their chosen outdoor location. The pop-up dinner party was a hit.

Since then, the dining event has expanded to include 120 cities in 40 countries around the world, including Vancouver.

“The one in Vancouver started 10 years ago, back in 2012,” says Tyson Villeneuve, an event organizer and co-founder of The Social Concierge. “It was an incredibly unique experience. It’s about bringing people together with great food, great wine, and a great dinner experience.”

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The airy outdoor event comes with some rigidly set rules. Diners must wear all white. They must bring their own table and chairs, picnic basket filled with food, and non-alcoholic beverages — although prepared bites and wine/champagne can be purchased through the Dîner en Blanc e-store. The table decor must also be white. 

The event location is kept a secret until the “last minute,” so attendees must gather at pre-assigned departure locations, often transit stations in order to ease the commute, whereupon they are escorted to the event by a volunteer. Takedown and cleanup is also the responsibility of the attendees.

“Every city around the world does it the exact same way,” Villeneuve explains. “There are a lot of core rules and regulations in and around how the event takes place and how it works to stem from the global event that started out of Paris.”

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The rigid event format keeps organizers — and attendees — interested, Villeneuve says.

“Something that keeps us going, from a creative standpoint, is the constant switching of venues,” he says. “And the new, unique ways that we can entertain and engage people, and work with the city to come up with cool angles and venues.

“It’s just something fun.”

Participation in the event is made possible in three stages, according to organizers.

Phase-one is for “members” who participated in the previous event. Phase-two is for new attendees that were referred by phase-one members. And phase-three is comprised of those who signed up for the event waitlist and are granted access to an available space. Tickets start at $48, plus a $10 membership fee for new members.

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The structured style requires a lot of pre-planning and careful organization, as elements such as location, guest lists, entertainment and more have to be ironed out well in advance.

“We plan it for a year in advance,” Villeneuve says. “Working with everybody from the city officials to creatives to make sure that it’s really well-structured and organized but appears like a magical pop-up.”

The global pandemic forced the event to pause, but Villeneuve and his business partner Jordan Coleman stayed active during the downtime, via virtual events with Le Dîner en Blanc enthusiasts, participants and volunteers in order to ensure they could kick things off again as soon as it was safe to do so.

“We were hosting gatherings of some of our community members, which was really cool, and we were able to stay connected virtually because, I think, one of the other cool things that’s happening and has shifted over the pandemic is the integration of technology into all events, including even dinner parties,” said Villeneuve. “So, we’ve been able to keep our community strong and everybody’s really, really excited to bring it all back.

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“We just had our first in-person table leader meeting a couple of days ago, and the energy was fantastic.”

The duo plans to keep the online element going with this year’s in-person event, with plans to offer elements of virtual and augmented reality.

“We’re trying to just dabble and experiment,” Villeneuve explains. “We’re very much interested in how we can integrate cool layers of technology into the event itself.”

For the organizers, putting together this year’s event has been “business unusual,” according to Villeneuve.

“Nothing has been business as usual,” he said of the post-pandemic reality of planning live events. “And I think it would be a straight-out lie if any event producer today said that things were easy or business as usual.

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“We’re all kind of emerging out of the pandemic, but we’re also emerging into a world where inflation is up, labour shortage and supply chain challenges are very real — these are all issues that we’re having to navigate daily.”

Challenges aside, Villeneuve is confident this year’s Dîner en Blanc will be a big success due to the fact that people want to get out to gather and celebrate with others. 

“I think one of the things that’s been so positive about the emergence of events back through the pandemic, is that the energy that people are bringing to the table is phenomenal,” Villeneuve says. “I remember, pre-pandemic, I feel like we were all dealing with almost event fatigue in a way. And now, I think everybody is just so genuinely enthusiastic to reconnect with each other in person.”

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This year’s event will be influenced by the capacity of the secret location.

“We actually go after the secret location first, and then try and maximize the space working within all of the city venue rules and regulations … to make sure that we can create a really fantastic experience for all the guests that are there,” Villeneuve says. “Our goal is to consistently create a safe and awesome environment within the capacities that are provided.”

As for this year’s secret location, Villeneuve would offer up only one hint.

“The only thing that I could say is it’s an iconic Vancouver view,” Villeneuve says. “But you know, I can’t say anything more than that.”

Aharris@postmedia.com