Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Going viral at Spadina House


Party at their house!

Spadina House is one of the City of Toronto's preserved heritage houses, on a property first occupied by the Baldwin family right on the edge of the Lake Iroquois escarpment overlooking the city. It is furnished to the 1920s period, the heyday of the family of financier James Austin, and in the last three years, they have held a "Gatsby garden party" on the lawns in June.

Okay, it's a nice bit of marketing capitalizing on the movie remake and on other '20s pop culture trends. But you know, it's a sleepy heritage home thing: how big's the audience for that, really?

Pretty substantial, it turns out. When Spadina House posted the event in March, they got 45,000 RSVPs.

Hottest party in town, Torontoist reports. Now they are selling tickets, attendance limited to 1600.

I know there is some concern among heritage professionals at many historic sites, who have to balance preservation and authenticity concerns against the need to goose the attendance, and find themselves urged to host rock concerts and biker rallies.

But this one sounds like a good time to me. And a good idea.

Image: Torontoist  
 
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