Q: Is Alice Water actually cooking?
A: Alice Waters is not cooking, but she designed and inspired the menu. Our campus catering team is working directly with her personnel to provide her culinary vision.
Q: Is Alice Waters an alumna?
A: Alice Waters is not an alumna. She is being honored with the Foundation Medal, UC Santa Cruz’s equivalent to an honorary degree, because the award recognizes individuals of exceptionally distinguished achievement whose work and contribution to society exemplify the vision and ideals of the university. Waters’s work in promoting organic food and incorporating food education into the public school curriculum goes hand-in-hand with UC Santa Cruz’s role as a pioneer in the organic farming and gardening movement.
Q: What is the dress code?
A: The dress code is “festive cocktail attire.” Have fun, be playful, and add the spirit of UC Santa Cruz to your outfit by wearing some Banana Slug yellow! Please be aware that guests will walk a short distance on the East Field track to the main entrance of the pavilion (see below), so please choose footwear accordingly.
Q: Will we have to walk on the grass?
A: Not if you don’t want to. Shuttle service will take you from the East Remote Parking Lot to the East Field. Guests will walk a short distance on the East Field track to the main entrance of the pavilion. There will be platforms extending across the East Field grass to the dining pavilion. The pavilion itself has a floor. There will also be a dance floor for after-dinner dancing.
Q: Do I need a paper ticket?
A: No. You do not need a paper ticket. We will have a list of all of our guests, and will be checking them in at the door.
Q: How long will the evening be?
A: The reception begins at 6 p.m. Dinner starts at 7 p.m. The dinner and program will end around 9:30 p.m.; dancing and stargazing will go until about 11 p.m.
Q: What is the seating format? Is it assigned? Will I be able to sit with my friends/family?
A: Yes, seating will be assigned. The seating format will be family-style seating of 24 people per table. The Special Events Office will seat you together with your guests and will accommodate any seating requests that were noted in your registration form.
Q: Does “family-style” mean a bench seat? If so, are there options for people who can’t lift their legs over a bench?
A: No, there will be individual chairs for each person at the table.
Q: Will there be heaters?
A: Yes. There will be heaters outside for the after-party. And the interior of the tent will be plenty warm and comfortable.
Q: What is the parking situation?
A: There will be complimentary parking in the campus’s East Remote Parking Lot. A shuttle will run from the East Remote Parking Lot to the dinner site on the East Field. There will be a disability van available to shuttle guests from the East Remote lot. Guests in wheelchairs who need a wheelchair lift, or those who are are unable to step up into the disability van, will be directed by parking staff.
Q: Will there be dancing?
A: Yes, there will be after-dinner dancing with live music by swing band Hot Club Pacific.
Q: Will there be a coat check?
A: Yes.
Q: Will there be photos after the event?
A: Yes. The UC Santa Cruz University Relations office will send guests a follow-up with a recap, photos, and more.
