Gosh what a last month, the culmination of all our hard work, executing a very successful DEB with tons of spectacular moments and an emotional ending to my time in Vancouver. I love that town more than I could’ve ever imagined. The people, the environment, the air, let me tell you the air there is so fresh it’s like breathing in joy and happiness 24/7. My last month was a full whirlwind. I closed out Playland after dedicating July to most of its success. I am very pleased with how it went and am forever grateful for Jordan and Tyson trusting me with it. On the 8 we held Diner. The push to the finish was rushed and exciting. I worked two full days on site with the production team managing the execution. Days lasting from 7am-10pm and beyond but so worth it.
DEB was held at *drumroll*, the beautiful George Wainborn Park in downtown Yaletown. With over 3500 attendees we packed the park. Had installations from Fleurs des Villes who created mannequins draped in real flower dresses. There was a hammock installation, a Boursin tasting booth, 3 musical acts, and dancers laced throughout. I’ve never in my life seen anything more magical. Watching thousands of people pour in, wearing all white and set up rows upon rows of tables in my favorite park in Vancouver. I think I cried 3 times just walking up to the bathrooms. The sparkler moment at the end, the ultimate climax of the night just put it over the edge. Imagine thousands of people all lighting up sparklers while listening to the band play Por Ti Volare. It’s enough to make you sob like a baby. Two days after Diner Anna and I had to move out of our beloved 2318 MacDonald. The Irish boys living above moved out the week before signaling the end of all our dream summers. I still had a week left in Vancouver, so I moved to a new Airbnb in East Van close to my office. Since DEB was over I was pretty much finished with my responsibilities at the office, but I did have one final project to execute. Jordan was finally getting married, and before their spiritual ceremony at Burning Man, they wanted to have a celebration for their family. This was to take place in Portland, OR, on 8/18, aka the last day possible I could fly back to Cincinnati. So, I started planning a wedding. Working with another local event planner to handle the trade-off once I had to leave, we planned a simple Portland wedding at Cathedral Park. On Friday the 16th, I hopped in a car with Dawn’s boss, Michael Green, and drove down to Portland. I’ve never experienced so much traffic in my life, making us over 3 hours late. We made it to Portland early enough and I started getting everything coordinated for the weekend. They had a welcome reception, followed by the Bachelor and Bachelorette days and rehearsal dinner, culminating in the wedding on Sunday. I was so thrilled to celebrate such amazing people, and to meeting their friends and family was very special for me. I had to leave probably 10 minutes before Dawn walked down the aisle and I cried the whole drive to the airport. What a summer it was, the best of my life. I took a red eye back to Cincinnati that night because I needed to be back on campus by 8am on the 19th for Recruitment prep week. I landed at 5am and started to adjust back to the Clifton lifestyle. The air- terrible, and so humid! It was good to be back though and see my friends. I can’t wait to share with them all of the stories from this memorable summer. Vancouver did everything I needed it to. It gave me a new, overwhelming passion for events and helped me find something that I can potentially do for the rest of my life. My major doesn’t seem as pointless for the relevancy it had with this job and my creativity has been spiked again. I needed this break desperately and to explore a new city again. My heart misses Vancouver already, but I’ll be back soon. Cheers, CB
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