Objective
A client known for raising the bar each year took us up on our offer to deliver an event the magnitude of the Canadian Rockies. This event for incentive winners and their guests needed to feel intimate and exclusive, awe-inspiring, iconically Canadian and be staged in a dynamic, natural setting.
Challenges
Designing a stand-alone event venue in a natural setting on a golf course to accommodate 1,300 guests required innovative thinking. We faced several challenges including:
- Choreographing a ballet of vans, trucks, semis, flat beds, catering kitchen, bussing, tents, executive washrooms and all power supply over a single-lane access road.
- Orchestrating hundreds of vendors to make sure every piece of the puzzle was complete.
- Negotiating a 4-week rental of the Golf Course in the middle of elk rutting season.
- Experiencing all four seasons on event day.
Strategy
- Creative “begging” of the Parks Board and our friends at the Fairmont Banff Springs to make this epic event happen.
- Staging the event on two fairways gave us space for separate cocktail reception and dining areas.
- Building a wildlife sustainability and environmental impact plan to consider elk mating season on an operational golf course.
- Designing a 40,000 sq ft clear-span tent, the largest ever built in the region, including faux hardwood flooring for multi-tiered seating of 142 harvest tables.
- Artful outdoor transition lighting of illuminated twig orbs to guide guests from the reception to the dining tent.
- Renowned Canadian singer-songwriter, Sarah McLachlan, stepped onto a revolving stage for a private performance. The masterfully designed stage, paired with IMAG screens, provided the “best seat in the house,” no matter where guests sat.
Award Winning Results
“Dine on the Nine” was an all-hands-on-deck approach resulting in a one of a kind experience for our client, guests, industry partners and our team. The trust of our client, the collaboration between PDS, the Fairmont Banff Springs, the Parks Board and all vendors involved to pull off an event of this magnitude in a National Park was necessary to bring it to fruition. We were told by the Regional Vice President of Fairmont that approval to do this again likely won’t happen, so it truly was a once in a lifetime event.
