The Noche en Blanco Core Committee released a statement Monday announcing that Noche en Blanco 2017, originally planned for Sunday, October 8, has been canceled.

Noche en Blanco is an annual one-night outdoors dinner event where attendees wear only white and bring everything for the dinner, including the tables, chairs, and food, similar to global event Dîner en Blanc. The committee chooses table hosts, who then organize their own table and invite guests for their respective tables. The location isn’t revealed until about an hour before the event starts.

This year, the committee cited a declined permit request as the reason for the event cancellation. The statement was as follows:

“Friends:

We are very saddened to announce that we are cancelling Noche en Blanco 2017. Citing Tucson Police Department’s concern for security and public safety and a change in the City Attorney’s interpretation and enforcement of the liquor laws, the City of Tucson Special Events Committee is declining to approve our permit request as submitted for a street closure for a pop-up dinner on October 8. We have explored alternatives to our specific permit request but those would have substantially changed the character of the event and exposed participants to the risk of citation.

Noche en Blanco has been enjoyed by thousands of people over the last five years. It has been a spontaneous, creative, diverse, and magical community event. It is free; it is held in a public downtown closed street; and it is open to all who want to make the individual effort to participate. In the new strange age in which we now live, perhaps there is no longer space for this quirky and unique community event.

We know that this late-date cancellation is a great disappointment and inconvenience to all of you. We urge you to take the time and effort that you had planned for Noche en Blanco and use it to have your own “Mini-Noche” on that Sunday in your own homes or yards or patios or creative locations of your choosing. Enjoy each other and please post photos at #Nocheenblancotucson2017.

En paz y comunidad

Corky Poster, Mary Goethals, and the Noche en Blanco Core Committee”

For more information on Noche en Blanco’s inspiration, read about Dîner en Blanc on Wikipedia. For another side to the story, read “Citing liquor concerns, city denies permit to Noche en Blanco“.