Current Winnipeg pivots to posh picnics

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This article was published 18/06/2021 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Why lay down a blanket when you can picnic with pillows, stylish decor and charcuterie?

The organizers of Current Winnipeg — a twice-waylaid music festival that was set to host its inaugural event at The Forks last summer — have launched a luxury picnic venture to fill the special event gap left by the pandemic.

“We tried to keep the core values of the festival in place: gathering people together with high-quality food and drinks, beautiful esthetics,” says Monica Derksen, owner and creative director of Current. “You can’t do a festival with five people, but you can do a really lovely party.”

Bookings open today at currentpicnic.ca with three 90-minute time slots (11:30 a.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) available daily from Wednesdays to Sundays.

Customers choose a location — anywhere from a private yard to a public park — for their picnic, as well as the design theme for their event, which will take place around a low table.

A picnic for two people starts at $225 and includes non-alcoholic beverages and a charcuterie grazing board with meats, cheeses, fruit and bread. A s’mores kit and extra time can be added on for an additional cost.

Parties can accommodate up to eight people at a private residence and up to five people in a public setting in accordance with current health restrictions. Even though the concept is hamstrung by pandemic rules, Derksen is looking forward to getting back to what she loves.

“I spent the last year-and-a-half trying to decide if there’s something else I could be doing, but I’m so passionate about events — it’s what I do, it’s who I am,” she says. “Even if it’s just a little event, I finally feel like I’m doing what I should be doing and contributing in a way that adds value to people’s lives.”

Derksen says Current Picnic can be booked for anything from a brunch with friends to a small bachelorette party, from an engagement to a work function, “It’s really a basic meal, elevated,” she says.

Picnics hampered by poor weather can be rescheduled within the season, which Derksen says could last until the fall. Children are welcome, but will be added to the head-count cost if they’re eating and drinking. Current staff are responsible for set-up and tear-down of the picnic site and won’t be on-hand during the actual event.

If the concept proves popular this summer, Derksen hopes to be able to offer larger picnics with a wider slate of decor options in the future. She’s also mulling the idea of winter picnics.

“Winter is massive in Winnipeg,” she says. “Because of the pandemic, we’ve figured out how to appreciate winter outside a bit more, so we’re looking at a couple options that we might be able to do.”

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney