This March marks the one-year anniversary of Travis Park’s revitalization. To celebrate, the park will host its first Dinner en Blanc on Friday, March 27. The event is free and open to the public, with only one requirement—you must wear all white. Bring your own picnic and enjoy live music and entertainment starting at 6 p.m. Dinner is followed by a dance party from 8-11 p.m.
Editor’s note: This event was originally scheduled a week earlier, but was rescheduled because of rain.
Travis Park, founded in 1870, has been transformed in the last year from a place to avoid into a vibrant gathering space. The Center City Development and Operations Department (CCDO), which oversaw the park’s renovation and continues to manage its progress, has enlivened the multi-purpose space with an extensive and rotating collection of food trucks, art installations, creative collaborations with Awesome SA, and popular events, such as Movies by Moonlight, Ballet in the Park with Ballet San Antonio, and their delightful Third Friday happy hour and live jazz event.
Below is a trailer for a movie about the “the worlds biggest dinner party” in Paris, France.
Organizers aren’t expecting that big of a crowd just yet, but CCDO Director Lori Houston said the park “has been a great example of how partnership and programming can revitalize an underutilized space.”
Its location at 301 E. Travis Street, across from the St. Anthony Hotel, is increasingly attracting locals and tourists alike, she said. This coming year will only bring more quality programming, including seasonal and family-focused events. The hope is to attract an even more diverse crowd, from young professionals to Baby Boomers to children.
For the Dinner en Blanc, the park will be adorned with white decorations, blankets and picnic tables. Surprise live entertainment will be woven throughout the evening, culminating in the dance party.
You don’t need to reserve a place for the Dinner en Blanc, but if you would like to reserve a picnic table you can do so online. The St Anthony will provide bar service throughout the evening, as well as beautiful picnic baskets, available to reserve (call 210-227-4392). All proceeds from reservations go towards future park programs.
What better way to observe the first day of spring than to celebrate the rebirth of a historic downtown San Antonio park?
You can find more information about the dinner, and other events at the park, online at www.travisparksa.com, or on their Facebook page.
*Featured/top image: San Antonio enjoys the newly renovated Travis Park during its grand reopening March 31, 2014. Photo by David Rangel. (Edited to black and white for effect.)
Related Stories:
Peace Fingers Take Up Residence at Travis Park
Jazz’SAlive and Kicking in Travis Park
It’s going to be a fun event!
So glad Travis Park in San Antonio has been revitalized! My office was across the street for many years and it was a beautiful, unsafe place at the time. Glad SA made this historic park a priority!
I think that is so cool! I’ve seen it done in other cities.
The event is free (like the music) but not the food. Blankets will be provided so pack a picnic basket or harvest your dinner from a food truck. Now if we can only have a warm evening!
Are we allowed to bring wine to the park for the picnic?
Good question. We will ask.
It’s a stretch to call Travis Park ‘underutilized’ considering that it has been a major VIA transfer point for years. Public toilets here would be a great help to visitors and residents, as would be electronic signs in the park as well as at bus stops to alert passengers to the next arriving buses and delays, so that VIA riders could enjoy more of the park.
Plug-ins for the City’s food truck program would eliminate the need for generators, with environmental benefits including improved air quality and less noise pollution at the park. Plug-ins would possibly also help to drop truck and trailer operating costs, ideally leading to more realistic prices for San Antonio customers as well as a living wage for City food truck program employees.
Re-establishing at least some of the park for orchard farming (a historic use of the lands) would also help to address some of San Antonio’s food insecurity, add beauty and justify some of the costs of watering and landscaping at the park. The productive value of Travis Park could also be increased with solar panels on shelters – feeding into CPS Energy’s distributed solar production goals and City commitments to utilizing and producing renewable energy.
Finally, new interpretive signage would ideally help to explain why we have a monument to Confederate war dead at the center of Travis Park. The current signage makes the choice of this particular public park for a ‘white’ dinner a bit awkward, to put it mildly.