June 4th, 2014
A Never Ending Feast at Table for 1200
How often do you get to go for dinner with 1200 of your closest friends? Maybe your social life is more expansive than mine, but for me the answer is not often!
Table for 1200 was held on Saturday, May 31st and it was exactly what it sounds like: dinner for 1200 people, at one giant table! The location was top secret until hours before the event, and everyone was to come dressed in all white to make it even more of a spectacle.
The event was centered around conversations about design, architecture and local food, and my friend Amy and I were excited to volunteer as table captains so we could decorate a table for the event.
Here’s what it looked like:
Thumbtack and painted peach table runner, in progress.
The menu was fabulous, and there was lots to eat (even for vegetarians like me)
Our table’s finished look! Coral & gold table runner, silver placemats and flowers with peach, coral and gold fabric tied to the chair backs.
A view of the Table for 1200! Over 150 eight foot long tables stretched end to end, over a bridge and through a park.
Before the event, I’d been tweeting about it with friends and a TV crew ended up getting in touch with me, and coming to my house and shooting an interview about the event. Such a surprising way to spend my Saturday morning!! (This is me holding Jesse’s phone, with the coverage of the event playing)
The table settings at our table.
Table #3 Co-Captains! Amy & I had all of the fun planning for the event and crafting to get it ready, I hope there was some fun left over for everyone else!
Design roadblock ahead!
This truly is such a beautiful city to be a part of. I’m so thankful I live here.
It was fabulous to take part in a big event built around people coming together to create something larger than themselves, and to talk about design, and how much they love their city.
Being from a city that rarely sees people from other parts of Canada move to, it’s important to celebrate what we do well! And we do food, summertime, and getting together with friends very well.
If you could hold a dinner for 1200 of your favorite people and experts to talk through about any topic, what would it be?
I think mine would have to be blogging or online business – but I doubt that’s a terrible shock! ;)
Such a cool event and I’m so glad you and Amy decided to be table co-captains. I emailed Amy after and told her I want her to move home and do the event here :) haha.
Looks like the weather was PERFECT too!
Of all the things I have neglected to participate in I might regret missing this the most! I’ve been loving all of the photos people are posting, though. This city is so cool sometimes.
So much fun! I would gladly sit at your table and talk blogs :) I really like what you and Amy did with the wood table runner… I’ve never seen one painted like that!
so happy to stumble upon another winnipeg blogger!!! gosh, I’m so bummed i wasn’t able to go to table for 1200. this looked amazing!!!
Animated Confessions
Thanks for commenting, Libs! It was a neat event, and I’m glad it helped us connect. Local bloggers are the best! I know there’s a Facebook group for Manitoba Bloggers, and I think there are Meetup.com groups too if you’re looking to connect. Creative Handshake isn’t just for bloggers, but it’s a great catchall for creatives and people who work online.
What a fun and awesome looking event! So great that you got to take part in it!!
So was I, Margarita! It was really interesting to see an event at this scale, and fun to have a hands on project to work on. This weekend I’m working on converting my table runner into something I can mount on the wall in my house and put photos in front of.
Kyla, I am so so so jealous you got to attend! It sold out before I could scoop up a ticket. It’s looks truly magical. I am so glad you got to experience it and blog about it. I live vicariously through you! :) Love the photos too! Our city is truly beautiful.
Oh, you would have loved it too! It’s completely up your alley. I found out about it out of nowhere, and I think the tickets were almost gone before the media picked it up. My impression was that there were a lot of people from inside the architecture community there, and that a lot of the tables were sponsored and their tickets all went to the groups that booked a whole table. I hope they do something similar to it in the summer next year – then we have the winter pop up and a summer one to look forward to! If not, you and I might need to do a tasty picnic to get our fix :)
We were walking to the baseball game and all the people all in white. Honestly, my hubbie got creeped out. Said it felt like a cult. However, we had no idea why everyone was dressed in white. Might’ve been less creepy if we had known.
Our table was on the bridge and people were honking their horns, slowing down and waving, and looking pretty confused too! When I was there it felt a little like being at a cricket match. It’s so funny how something simple like clothing colour can have such a big effect on people, isn’t it? Immediately it looks more like one big unit of people doing something, and that’s naturally a little imposing. Hopefully the balloons, wine and laughing were indications that we came in peace – I would have happily shared some apps and raised a glass to you as an olive branch ;)
Oh fun! That looks like an amazing, awesome event. I have heard of these pop-up dinners where everyone wears white but I haven’t heard of any this large! Winnipeg sure looks beautiful in these photos – as do you!
If I had a party with friends and experts to talk about a topic, I’d probably pick running or traveling in France because those are topics I can talk about for hours upon hours!
French food & talking about French travel? Sign me up! Part of the idea was to do our own version of the white dinners, but it also has a playful local connection. When the original Winnipeg Jets were here, we would have a “Winnipeg White Out” and dress all in white during the playoffs. It was a fun way to riff on that idea – and it also felt a little like a cricket match ;)
Awesome event! I think mine would definitely be a food-based discussion…or maybe animal welfare?
Ooh, a food based discussion would be fabulous. I would be happy to kickstart that over some local food with you! Animal welfare would be a juicy topic too. My first thought is that everyone could bring a pet and they could be served too, but I’m picturing my pups hopping onto the table and stealing all of the things so maybe not… ;)
Yes! Dog on the table! Sounds like my kind of party haha ;)
So I’m scrolling/reading through your post and stop dead at the pic of you and Amy – She’s from my city! (But of course, I’m sure you knew that already!) Such a small world!
What an awesome concept this is! I wish Kamloops did this! If I could choose the topic of conversation, it would probably be about what your true passions are. It’s always fun to know what interests other people have and how they differ from your own.
Yes she is!! Amy is one of my favourite British Columbian exports. We actually met because Amber Y. connected us when Amy was moving here, and she knew that we shared so many interests. We became fast friends, and I can’t get enough of her.
I love the idea of having a meal dedicated to talking through what lights you up – that would be such an energizing night! Having smaller cities do these kinds of things (and I count Winnipeg among them) is so neat. It’s also a great reminder for people our age to get out there and do things in person. Or to get out there and make a spectacle! I hope you’re finding ways to be lit up by your passions in your daily life – thanks for commenting, lovely!
Congratulations! I know you worked very hard to bring this together. As for topics, for me it would be writing, writing, and more writing…or kickboxing. My muay thai friends can talk about kickboxing for hours. It never gets old (at least for us).
Ooh, a writers dinner would be amazing. And a kickboxing dinner sounds like it would be fun! As long as no spontaneous sparring broke out.
I wish you’d been there! Though there was a cheese plate, so you were clearly there in spirit ;)
That looks like so much fun!
It was a blast, Nikki! You couldn’t see the end of the table almost no matter where you were, it was wild. And a great time to reconnect with friends through bumping into them :)
My goodness, what an event! How do they serve food? Or were you responsible for food? That seems like so many people to feed! :)
It was huge! One of the people behind the event is a caterer, so they had a great handle on how to make it work. The menu had a lot of salads, dips, and cheeses to start, and all of them were impeccable. It was a huge first course. Then they brought out two hot meat entrees and one hot vegetarian entree, if I’m remembering correctly. The cooking was all done off site, brought to the event, and then heated and distributed from the center point of the tables. Every table had one table captain, and they were the only person who connected with the servers. And if you wanted more wine / water or beer, the table captain would walk down to the center point to talk to the caterers and then walk back! There was a steady stream of servers walking around, and people walking up and down the tables all the time. I was really impressed by how smoothly it went!
Wow, what coordination! Impressive!
Kyla, I just came across your blog and love the design. What a beautiful event! If there were a similar one here in Nashville, I hope the topic would be centered around the balance between spirituality/appreciation of the simple things, with living in an always plugged-in, consumer-driven culture.
Look forward to reading more from you!
Thanks for discovering my blog and leaving a note, Valerie! I would love to go to that dinner, my goodness! Can we just create our own, or do a google hangout version? One of the things that I liked best about the event was that I didn’t have my phone on me the whole day, and I’ve been noticing that I’m craving offline time. Sounds like we’ll get along beautifully! :)