The Sandspur

Issue date: 4/14/06 Section: Life & Times

Media Credit: Karina Mc Cabe SOCIALIZING TIME: Contestants were just as serious about having fun as they were about their entry.

For those of you wandering around Park Ave this past weekend, you may have noticed that there was quite a disturbance going on, with the main street being closed down and all. But besides several detours, the real story is Winter Park just hosted its fifth annual Dinner on the Ave on Saturday night.

This social event featured rows of round tables lined up down the road, and people milling about in all sorts of clothing, from formal wear to their best set of luau coconut bras. The event sponsor, the City of Winter Park government, sold out of their 115 tables in less than two months, demonstrating the popularity of the social event.

The tables, costing 80 dollars for eight people, are decorated in hopes of winning a prize in one of the four categories: most patriotic, most elegant, most colorful and most original.

To win, contestants must dress accordingly to their tables, which explains why if you happened to be strolling the Ave or enjoying dinner at 310, you may have noticed a large amount of people decked out in their formal finest or more creative costumes.

Last year's Dinner on the Avenue brought out 800 spectators to come see the festivities, and this years numbers are even higher.

Each table was decorated extensively, from fountains to statues, wedding-like tarps and rose bouquets, all in hopes of winning one of four gift baskets. The tables also include food, although spectators were not allowed to enjoy the Cheesecake Factory and other such delicacies that were brought to show off. The event is meant purely for social enjoyment for the members of the Winter Park community.

So, it is essentially a fancy community picnic where instead of the egg toss or water balloon fight, one looks forward to comparing Dillard dresses to the prom reunion table to the left of the wedding themed table. Other tables included "Tour of Winter Park", where different tables represented different streets throughout Winter Park and what was located on the street, multiple Hawaiian themed tables and a few guys dressed in wigs wandering about.

Those who did not have the chance to sign up to participate, considering how quickly the tables sold out, instead wandered around enjoying glasses of wine while checking out what the Dinner on the Avenue had to offer. Then when guests sat down to feast on their meals, onlookers enjoyed their own meal at the local restaurants offering even more varying cuisine down Park Avenue.

The successful gala also comprised of various Winter Park businesses, many of which had closed down for the celebration.

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