Eat for free on the Champs-Elysées free of traffic, facing the Arc de Triomphe, on a tablecloth more than 200 m long: some 4.000 guests drawn at random will participate in this giant picnic on Sunday May 26, at the day before the presentation of a study aimed at “re-enchanting” the axis.
Nearly 273.000 people tried their luck to benefit from one of the two services (12:00 p.m. and 14:00 p.m.) and sit on the avenue covered with cushions, on a checkered tablecloth 216 m long and more than 4.000 m2 of surface.
The lucky winners, who can each invite six loved ones to a square, will be entitled to a meal basket offered by one of the eight partner avenue restaurateurs, explains the Champs-Elysées Committee, which is organizing the event with a partner. private.
The tablecloth made from recycled fibers, manufactured in Ile-de-France in 25 pieces, will be assembled on site, an assembly which will involve 150 people.
Unconsumed products will be collected by an association fighting against food waste and insecurity, he specifies.
The goal: to show that the avenue "is not just a single shopping avenue", argues Marc-Antoine Jamet, the president of the Committee.
In 2023, this association bringing together economic players in the sector, and which also organizes Christmas lights, transformed the avenue into an open-air classroom for a giant dictation.
“It’s to say to Parisians: +come back to the Champs!”, Mr. Jamet also recognized.
An essential passage for tourists, the district has been gradually abandoned in recent years by locals.
Latest symptom to date: the UGC Normandie cinema will close its doors in June due in particular to "the drop in attendance" at cinemas on the Champs-Elysées which would be mainly due, according to UGC, "to the development of tourism and events" of the avenue.
On Monday, the Committee must present the results of its 1.800-page study, submitted to Paris town hall, to “re-enchant” the avenue. The 150 proposals put forward must “guide a more global and more radical transformation” of the neighborhood, according to Mr. Jamet.
A first series of developments, including the repair of the terraces and more space given to pedestrians around the Arc de Triomphe, must be completed by the Olympic Games this summer for an amount of 30 million euros.
