Symphony in the City 2012 - Thursday, May 31st, 2012 - St. Andrew's Square

Details

It’s a sexy urban party in our sleepy suburban city.

Date: Thursday, May 31, 2012
Time: 8pm to late
Tickets: $50 at victoriasymphony.ca
Location: St. Andrew’s Square
Dress: Fabulous

4 essential steps to entering Symphony in the City:

Look fabulous.
Walk the red carpet.
Put your hand out for a red carpet cocktail.
Smile for the camera.

You are in!

Now enjoy live music, fine food and drink, an incredible silent auction and an evening of fun while supporting the Victoria Symphony’s many artistic and education programs.

This is a good idea. I like the idea of a relatively inexpensive, non-seated dressy event. I'd much rather go to this than attend a seated charity event like Visions (~$350) or the David Foster thingy ($1000). Obviously, the price makes it attractive for younger or non-professional types. We likely don't have enough events like this in general.

Is Victoria really "a sleepy suburban city"?

Not sure that is the way I would characterize it. Weird.

I suppose you might think so if you'd never actually stepped beyond the suburbs.

Hmmm, wait a second, aren't the suburban folks usually complaining about how noisy and dangerous Victoria is? So many contradictions...

Is Victoria really "a sleepy suburban city"?

Yes, pretty much. Even downtown is sleepy.

Is Victoria really "a sleepy suburban city"?

Not sure that is the way I would characterize it. Weird.

That's the first thing that jumped out at me, too. If they think that I am a sleepy suburban denizen, then this event is probably not aimed at me.

Isn't a sexy urban party in a sleepy suburban city an oxymoron?

No place takes such careful effort to disparage itself while promoting itself like Victoria does. Threading negative disclaimers into promotional material has become a fine art. I've made the point before, that you're actually insulting the visitor who's spent money to come to a place and who's enjoying the place, whenever you say "It's lame here and you've wasted your time and your money and place X is better but I suppose it's actually sort of okay if you force yourself to choke it down."

I've identified many examples from tourism publications in the past. The case in point for today is from page 54 of "Victoria Experience: Think Local - Feel Local" (www.experiencemag.com):

I have come to realize one thing... this city has a serious shoe fetish! We are no New York City but when it comes to shoes Victoria comes to the table in a big way...

98% of the cities on earth could apply that "we are no New York City" disclaimer to just about any subject area. So why even say it? It's meaningless.

People want to enjoy themselves. Let them enjoy themselves. When you walk through the gates of Disneyland in Anaheim they don't hand you a pamphlet telling you how the parks in Japan are much better but you'll still probably be able to have a good time regardless.