Curtis Givens’ All White Affair 2022: 1000’s attend annual birthday celebration
1000’s of folks accrued at Dust Island River Park in Memphis on Saturday night for
1000’s of folks accrued at Dust Island River Park in Memphis on Saturday night for probably the most town’s annual marquee events.
The apparel used to be various from T-shirts to attire, however all of the visitors had something in not unusual — they wore all-white apparel. That is a compulsory rule for admission to the All White Affair hosted by way of CGI Leisure’s Curtis Givens — a staple of Memphis’ birthday celebration scene for greater than 20 years.
The birthday celebration used to be billed as “essentially the most expected birthday celebration of the summer season” with an estimated 2,500 to a few,500 folks anticipated to wait Saturday. Other folks took pictures of their all-white outfits on the “Memphis” signal at Dust Island River Park. Others loved beverages and meals whilst paying attention to tune within the seating and VIP spaces.
The All White Affair started at 4 p.m., and the park began filling up with partygoers arriving fashionably past due nearer to six p.m. with the ocean of white clothes visual all all over Dust Island.
There have been numerous cooling tents for individuals who sought after a brief smash from the elements, with the warmth index often above 100 all through the past due afternoon on the outside occasion. The cooling tents had been comfortably positioned subsequent to more than a few meals vans and tent bars.
“The folk deserve the reward,” Givens stated of his luck. “They make me who I’m. With their beef up, it assists in keeping making me more potent and more potent. I give all of the reward to the folks, now not myself.”
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Givens, CGI Leisure founder, has turn into a key determine within the town’s occasion, birthday celebration and nightlife scene. He has helped level the College of Memphis basketball’s Memphis Insanity and created perennial multi-faceted festivities just like the Can I Reside weekend and the once a year post-Thanksgiving All Black Affair. Givens has additionally thrown lavish events celebrating his personal birthday each and every February.
“I put my head down and I grind, guy,” Givens stated. “I paintings, I am getting grimy, I put my arms on stuff. I by no means act like I’m too large to do the rest.”
Givens held his inaugural All White Affair in 2002, on the outdated River Terrace Yacht Membership. It drew fewer than 200 folks. By way of 2009, the development had moved to The Peabody and used to be attended by way of greater than 2,000. These days, the All White Affair is the center piece of the now annual multi-day, multi-event Can I Reside weekend.
Corliss Givens, Curtis’ brother, stated attendees can all the time be expecting a good time, impressive provider and “an revel in that you’ll be able to’t get on an ordinary weekend.”
He additionally stated the All White Affair presentations the town can grasp occasions the place folks in and out of doors of Memphis will have a good time whilst staying secure.
“Other folks fly in yearly from out of the city,” Corliss stated. “It provides folks a reason why to more or less keep on the town all through the summer season, as a result of a large number of folks commute to (Las) Vegas and Miami and puts like that. It provides folks a reason why to stick house and invite their buddies on the town to come back birthday celebration and revel in Memphis.”
Kenny Burns, a self-described “way of life specialist,” has co-hosted the All White Affair for the previous seven years. Burns stated he’s traveled and hosted in golf equipment all around the nation, however Memphis is exclusive in some ways.
He additionally appreciates Memphis’ dedication to taking part in now not most effective new tune, however vintage throwbacks from the Nineties and 2000s, that have been often performed at Saturday’s occasion.
“Memphis, they imagine it a B or C marketplace. It’s a A marketplace to me, guy, as a result of folks in reality have a great time right here,” Burns stated. “When folks pop out to have fun or birthday celebration, they labored exhausting all month to avoid wasting for the (All) White (Affair). They labored exhausting to peer Kenny Burns communicate that s***, pour out them beverages and display love. That melts my center, guy, as a result of I do it for the folks.”
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Basic admission tickets for the birthday celebration had been $30 upfront or $50 the day of the development. A lot of attendees parked at Dust Island River Park’s parking storage and took loose shuttles to get to the All White Affair. Others paid, in some circumstances, as much as $30 or $60 to obtain top parking get admission to to the development.
Latasha Freeman is an ordinary All White Affair attendee. What does she revel in concerning the occasion?
“Grownups. Elegant. Simply grown and attractive. The entirety. I’m speaking about the whole lot,” she stated.
When requested what folks can be expecting on the All White Affair, Freeman stated: “They simply have to come back out and notice for themselves. I will be able to’t say a lot … I’m lovely certain that a large number of Memphis they know … he’s (Givens) a super man.”
Reporter Bob Mehr contributed to this tale.
Omer Yusuf covers the Ford challenge in Haywood County, residential actual property, tourism and banking for The Industrial Enchantment. He will also be reached by way of e mail [email protected] or adopted on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.