August 15, 2024
Provided image/Kory Aversa
Philadelphia's Dîner en Blanc 2024 is being held Thursday at LOVE Park.
The surprise location for Philadelphia's 12th Dîner en Blanc has finally been revealed.
Thursday's outdoor "chic picnic," where attendees must wear white and bring their own food, is being held at LOVE Park, located at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. Organizers expect around 5,000 people to attend tonight's pop-up dinner.
LOVE Park, also known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, is a former skate park that is famously home to Robert Indiana’s LOVE statue, which has been kept in the space almost continuously since 1976.
Last summer, Dîner en Blanc was held outside Fairmount Park's Memorial Hall, which was built in 1876 and now is home to the Please Touch Museum's child-friendly interactive exhibits.
In 2022, the event celebrated its 10th year in Philly and for the first time repeated a location where a prior year's event had taken place – Logan Circle, the site of Dîner en Blanc's inaugural Philly pop-up in 2012. Other public locations in Philly that have hosted the extravagant event include the JFK Boulevard Bridge, Avenue of the Arts, Navy Yard, Philadelphia Museum of Art steps, Franklin Square, City Hall/Thomas Paine Plaza, Boathouse Row, Rittenhouse Square and Memorial Hall/Please Touch Museum.
While Philly has been hosting Dîner en Blanc for over a decade, the event's history dates further back to a 1988 gathering of friends in Paris, France. Atlantic City also began hosting an iteration of the event in 2022.
The rules for Dîner en Blanc events are specific and straightforward: Wear white and bring your own food, drinks (no hard liquor or beer), cutlery, chairs, tables and picnic baskets. Each year, tickets to Philly's exclusive Dîner en Blanc sell out. To be considered for an invite, you must either have attended a previous year's event, be sponsored by someone who did, or be on the waitlist.
Along with the outdoor meal and plenty of photo opportunities, there will also be dancing and live entertainment at Philly's Dîner en Blanc. This year's event pays homage to the 50th anniversary of the song "Come and Get Your Love" by the band Redbone, which was written in Philadelphia. There will be music by the Boathouse Row Band and DJ Nico Oso. There will also be tango lessons, drum lines and sparklers.
Tonight's forecast predicts mainly clear skies and temperatures around 67 degrees — prime weather for a picnic under the stars.
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