A feast fit for 1,201 takes off at MB Legislative grounds
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/05/2015 (3233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A dinner party for 1,201 people shook down Saturday night on the Premier’s lawn. The guests at Table for 1201 wore white and brought their own chairs, typewriters, playing cards, Lego castles, foil balloons, aquariums, palm trees, disco balls, feather boas…just name an object and it was probably decorating someone’s table.
Table for 1201 at the Manitoba Legislative grounds is a follow-up to last year’s sold-out Table for 1200 on Esplanade Riel. The extravagant dinner party is a fundraiser for StorefrontMB, a local non-profit architecture firm.
The largest outdoor dinner in Winnipeg sold out again this year. Tickets were $90 each or $900 for a table of eight.
Each table boasted an enthusiastic captain, like Caleb McGinn at table 21, in charge of decorating their respective space.
McGinn nabbed second place in the table design competition for his intricate work.
“We thought, ‘what do we love?’ Wine!” McGinn said.
So, the recent architecture grad carved a wooden wine dispenser to hoist up on his table. The plank bolstered a box of wine at its peak, which trickled down on a curved path meant to look like the Red River, he said.
McGinn appreciated that the tables wrapped around the southern fountain on the Legislative grounds this year. The winding circle of mix-and-match tables gave the meal a community feel, he said.
“It’s also just way more functional because then the serving is quite easy to do. They can just go out in a radius, rather than walk a mile,” McGinn said. “The location’s nice because there’s a lot of shade and it’s right in the city. Probably a lot of people haven’t walked into this area because everybody drives around downtown.”
Many guests, including city councillor Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), were impressed by how Table for 1201 transformed the usually under-utilized space.
“This space downtown here at the Legislative grounds has never actually had a licensed event like this, or even any licensed event. So to have it packed with people, you can feel the spirit,” Gerbasi said. “Just the beauty of being in a public space downtown with people eating together and laughing and visiting. It’s just amazing.”
Mayor Brian Bowman echoed Gerbasi and gave a nod to the founding father watching them eat.
“I really like the fact that we’re eating under the shadow of Louis Riel,” Bowman said, looking at the Manitoban icon’s statue erected nearby. “It’s just wonderful to get together and have dinner with 1,200 of my closest friends.”
The six-course menu was crafted by Ben Kramer from Diversity Food Services and Mandel Hitzer from Deer + almond.
“We sat down and tried to A), celebrate Manitoba as much as we can and B), celebrate the spring–everything’s popping up and fresh. So we tried to keep the flavours as light and fresh and summery as we could,” Kramer said.
The dishes, served family-style at each table, included braised bison, baked potato salad and tabbouleh, a garden vegetable and millet salad.
j.botelho.urbanski@gmail.com
History
Updated on Saturday, May 23, 2015 9:32 PM CDT: Updated story.