You drop a giant ferris wheel, hay bales and a country fair into downtown Toronto. Right smack in the middle of the city.
The brief from our client was simple. "Bring country to the city. Let's make it spectacular. And you've got 4 weeks". Our team loves a good challenge, and a little backstory on this project. Our client's summer parties are those events you still hear people talking about years later. They are the fun and unpretentious events that you whole heartedly look forward to every July. It's actually one of these epic summer parties (circa 2017) that played a pivotal role in Jess & Jen's friendship and ultimately the founding Carte Blanche Bar together.
"Bring country to the city. Let's make it spectacular. And you've got 4 weeks. That was the brief."
So let's just say we had to over deliver! Job one, finding that perfect venue that had a good mix of outdoor and indoors space (there was no rain date). We explored a bunch of options across the city, and ultimately landed at Stackt Market. It was central, had onsite food and could be licensed - check check check.
Now the fun part, where to fit a 50 ft ferris wheel. Not exactly something their team had done before, and honestly a first for us. Engineers had to get involved because Stackt sits on a retaining wall, and it required an extensive analysis to ensure the property could support the structure. It was truly a learning for everyone involved, and we weren't sure it would get approved. We were down to the wire, but the team at Stackt pulled through and we got the green light from the engineers....phew.
Fast forward to July 25th, 2019 - and one of the most stressful load-ins of our careers. After 6 attempts from 5am-6:30am... we were on our last go. With the entire event vision hinging on this ferris wheel, we took a deep breath and closed our eyes as the driver made a last ditch effort. "Phewwww, the Belgianmoon brewery was still standing, and the driver had made it in" we said to ourselves.
The Brightworks County Fair themed summer party was one of our absolute FAVOURITE gigs last summer. A Ferris wheel, fair games and wine on tap. Now that’s a party! Not only did we roll-up our vintage mobile bar 'Goldie' for bar service, the team at Carte Blanche Bar planned the whole shebang! 🌾🎡🤹♀️🍷🎉