BY TRACY BROWN/ AJC Talk of the Town Blog
If you happened to drive by the Mercedes Benz Stadium on Saturday evening, you likely noticed all the people in white, carrying white chairs, tables and picnic baskets.
Atlanta just hosted its fourth annual Diner En Blanc affair. This year’s dinner in white event, which boasts clandestine exclusivity, drew more than 2,500 guests.
Guests typically learn the location within an hour of arriving. To the delight of many Atlantans, this year’s dinner was on the plaza outside Mercedes Benz stadium, which was transformed with elegant table settings, candles, breathtaking flowers and fine dinnerware.
Guests are required to bring everything themselves and are asked to leave the venue as they found it. Previous locations have included Millennium Gate at Atlantic Station, Peachtree Road outside the Fox Theatre and The Shops of Buckhead Atlanta.
While Atlanta has hosted for only four years, Diner En Blanc has been around for more than two decades. It got its start in Paris in 1988, when a group of friends met for dinner at Bois de Boulonge, Paris’ second largest park. The story goes that everyone wore white simply to make it easier to find one another. Now more than 70 cities in four continents host the elegant, all-white dinner party.
In the United States, at least 30 cities host, including Dallas, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. Most cities have long waiting lists of folks trying to participate; Atlanta's dinner sold out within the first 40 minutes. The most-asked question is how to participate. This previous post explains in details, how to get a spot of your own.
You can also register at atlanta.dinerenblanc.com/register .
