At Cornucopia’s latest signature event, you don’t have to be borne back ceaselessly into the past, but for just one night? Absolutely.
The organizers of Whistler’s annual food and drink festival take you back to the Roaring ’20s on Nov. 16 for Straight Up: Gatsby Gold, a night of glitz and glam, live music, dancing, and enough giggle water to flood a gin joint. (I’m trying, OK?)
Straight Up represents the festival’s newest signature event, and will come with a fresh theme each year. For the inaugural edition, organizers went with The Great Gatsby theme for its accessibility.
“Everyone can dress up like flapper girl or a gangster or whatever in between. It’s for people who want to dress up without having to get too costume-y,” said Sue Eckersley, president of Cornucopia producer Watermark Communications. “Especially in the first year, we want events to be barrier-free, so the price is accessible, and what you’re wearing is accessible.” (That rule applies to everyone but her staff, Eckersley joked: “I don’t think I’ve ever turned anyone away for how they dressed—except my ops guys. ‘It doesn’t look like you’ve had a shower from your shift. Go put on clean clothes.’”)
The flapper festivities kick off with a one-hour open tasting, featuring a selection of curated wines, spirits, craft beers, cider, sake, and signature cocktails. Always ones to support local, Cornucopia organizers will feature beers from the good folks at Whistler Brewing and cider from new producer Lillooet Cider Co.
After that, the night moves to a cash bar, so attendees can continue enjoying their favourites from the tasting, or sample something new.
Providing the soundtrack for the tasting will be a jazz trio, followed by Vancouver 10-piece Famous Players Band, playing modern favourites along with some ’20s classics to get the Sheiks and Shebas dancing.
“[O]ther than the Summer Concert Series in the summer, you don’t get to see many bands in Whistler anymore. You see DJs,” Eckersley said. ““This is live, big band-era music. It’s gonna be fabulous.”
Straight Up was envisioned, at least in part, as a replacement for the Cornucopia-closing, boozy bacchanal that was the World Oyster Invitational, known by locals as Oyster Fest. With Bearfoot Bistro, the primary organizer, stepping back from the event this year to focus on winemaker dinners and after parties during the festival, Eckersley hopes Gatsby Gold, as well as Cornucopia’s flagship food and wine tasting event, Crush, will help fill its Caesar-stained shoes.
“Oyster Fest is irreplaceable, but we wanted to have opportunities that would meet the needs of people who would have gone to Oyster Fest,” she said. “Go to Crush if you want to go to a food-tasting event in that party style. For the dancing and the scene, great music, that’s definitely the Gatsby event.”
Cornucopia’s other signature event this year is Drag me to Après on Nov. 17. Expect wine, beer and cocktail tastings, après-sized bites, and of course QUEENS. Four of them, to be precise, including host Gia Metric from Canada’s Drag Race Season 2.
“It includes light snacks, and we’ve never run out of booze at our events,” Eckersley said. “We hope locals will come out and celebrate, dance and have fun.”
That’s on top of Cornucopia’s crammed lineup of drink seminars, Culinary Stage multi-course feasts, and winemaker dinners. The festival runs from Nov. 7 to 17.
“Every year we have our concerns that people still love it and wonder if they are still coming,” said Eckersley, adding that despite the rising cost of living and the fact typically fewer Americans come in an election year, “ticket sales are great [and] events are selling out.
“We are super excited about the lineup,” she added. “Our drink seminar and Culinary Stage lineup has never been better.”
Learn more, and get tickets, at whistlercornucopia.com.
