If you have not yet caught one of the Royal Ontario Museum’s ‘Friday Night Live’s’ – you are missing out. It is clearly the hottest ticket in town even when it’s 1 degree Celsius outside and you are trotting up Bloor Street West in the cutest cocktail dress, heels, your hair polished and make up on point.
Upon approach to the Royal Ontario Museum we were greeted with a line that was wound tight around the city block. People were bundled up and ready to pile in. With a 7 p.m. start people were clearly waiting for a good 30-45 minutes in the cold. They didn’t look bummed in the slightest. All we could see were smiles.
As we entered the space our coats were taken, we were directed to where we could buy ROM drink and food tickets and were given a map of the best exhibitions to take in.
The night’s theme was ‘Light’. A perfect motif as the amount of daily light is slowly starting to diminish due to the season. Perhaps this is about celebrating the light that we do have and reacquainting with it in a different way during the day. In the mean time ‘Light’ shone on us inside the ROM as we started our evening in good measure. The vibe in the space was upbeat, fun, filled with nostalgic tunes from a cool DJ and the scent of hot food.
As we ate some spicy buns, teriyaki and sipped delicious cocktails we watched as the crowd from the outside slowly start to bellow into the ROM. People were in chipper, full of laughter and clearly ready to party. The Fall chill had nothing on us.
As we glided up stairs to see the featured exhibition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The space was heaving with people getting lost in the vulnerability, tenderness and raw emotion of the photos. It was a sight to see so many people having deep emotional connections to the photographs.
It seemed every floor we tip toed into had a Nuit Blanche feel. There was always a treasure to be found. Be it musicians playing upbeat tunes, delicacies like haute couture cupcakes, volcanic ice creams, chic hamburgers, specialty drinks and healthier vegetarian options. Check out Fidel Gastro’s and Randy’s Roti – they were a hit! Clearly, next time we don’t eat dinner before we come to Friday Night Live at the ROM. The ROM has curated a night that is for a discerning customer that is sophisticated, well travelled, a foodie and only the best will do.
Like in Alice in Wonderland, we got lost looking for Sergio Hernández Martinez’s ‘Day of the Dead Ofrenda made for the ROM’. But when we did find it we were greeted by ROM staff that were exuberant to tell us all out the exhibit and also invite us to have our glamorous photo taken with the Pixel Stick in the adjacent space from The Museum out of Kitchener.
It was a gobsmacking experience as we revelled in the Ofrenda’s flowers, cut outs, bottles of beer, ornate crucifixes, angels and various sweets and foods left for those returning souls who once appreciated personal moments with these pieces when on earth. At one point we were feeling extremely over stimulated but we shook that off after we paid our respects at Sergio Hernández Martinez’s ‘Day of the Dead Ofrenda’ and then took off for our next adventure.
Musical performances from Countermeasure, Repartee and Common Deer offered us a nice reprieve as we sipped our Peroni’s and chuckled about the past week. What a lovely civilized way to have fun with your friends in the company of gorgeous art, succulent eats and drinks a plenty. We all have to grow up at some point don’t we? Why not do it with the ROM in the heart of the city and then head off for fun and frivolity after 11 p.m.? Lastly, there are two more FNL’s left for the year – get on it!
Thirty Four Flavours 