A dinner for 1,000 in the Peace Tower's shadow: welcome to Canada's table

It started on a bit of a whim.

Ottawa restaurateur Stephen Beckta was doing an interview last year when a reporter asked him what he'd liketo see happen to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday.

With no time to think, he blurted out: why not hosta dinner for 1,000 people on Sparks Street? It was a dream he had had when he was young.

To Beckta'ssurprise, Guy Laflamme executive director for theOttawa 2017 Bureau called him the next day, hoping to make the dream a reality.

"It's been a couple years now that we've been talking and looking at different venues ... and we ended up a block away from where we originally started. Why not have Parliament as the backdrop? Because it's Canada's most iconic backdrop," Beckta told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning earlier this week.

Listen to the full interview here.

'How would it not be such a great party?'

It'll happen Aug. 27. Wellington Street will be shut down betweenElgin andO'Connor streets, there will be 1,000 linear feet of table space, five mobile kitchens, 10 chefs from Ottawa and another 10 chefs from five different regions across the country.

And Beckta promises it'llhappenrain or shine. They've got "a large budget for tents," though they hope not to have to use them.

"How would it not be such a great party? One thousandpeople, most of them strangers, just enjoying a really incredible experience, hopefully in beautiful weather, with amazing food and amazing wine," Beckta said.

"And this is the whole point, is really celebrating Canada's diversity in terms of cuisine, in terms of wine, in terms of hospitality, and just the great stuff we do here."