Canadian Special Events ICONIC Opening Night Party Kicks Off CSE EXPO14

ICONIC – the Opening Night Party for the Canadian Special Events Expo 14 on Tuesday March 25, 2014, started in a location where most people have never ventured: backstage at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts. Guests were treated to a welcome cocktail that resembled a Cosmopolitan (courtesy of the bartenders at Brassai), a pink and cheerful start to the evening and the beginning of Canada’s only experiential event conference that brings together over 3000 event planners.
Sodexo provided the passed hors d’oevures including a warm butternut squash soup and an open faced grilled lamb burger topped by aioli. Big Rock Brewery offered their craft beer to sample. After a dance performance, the second part of the evening invited attendees to make their way up the aisles to the main lobby, followed by a drone which taped the event.

The Toben Food by Design table had a choice of four appetizers: wild mushroom risotto cakes, seared ahi tuna, beef tenderloin tartar and my favourite, Peking style pork belly steam buns with lightly pickled cucumber, and hoisin BBQ sauce. The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts caterers prepared a bowl of truffled mashed potatoes covered in beef tenderloin and crispy onions that would serve as an excellent main course. Dessert could be found across the lobby at the Le Dolci in a deconstructed lemon meringue pie. The a capella group- Countermeasure had fourteen singers harmonized on the two stairs to the mezzanine level where more food and drinks could be enjoyed. Upstairs were Greenhouse Juice Co., Von Doughnuts and Bucket & Whisk specializing in sweets. Bucket & Whisk presented a cotton candy station with maple bacon, organic mango chili and caramel apple flavours. Andria Simone soul flavoured sounds finished off the event along with the Milestones Jazz Trio.

The Opening Night Party for the Canadian Special Events Expo 14 featured a collection of Canada’s top food and beverage purveyors, entertainers, and designers who donated their services to define ICONIC.

(photos by Tanya)