Meet Christy Luspo & Leighann Westfall | Uptown Picnic Company Founders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christy Luspo & Leighann Westfall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christy Luspo & Leighann Westfall, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
We are Christy and Leighann, co-founders and creators of Uptown Picnic Company. We’ve been best friends for 10+ years, and we have always loved spending time outdoors with our friends – especially in Dallas, a city that means so much to the both of us. We launched Uptown Picnic in the heat of Covid during the summer of 2020 – at that time, there was a need and an urge for people to get out of their homes to be able to connect with their friends and family in a safe, effortless way. We were also itching put our creativity, love for design and style, and passion for planning into an experience where we could help make this possible. As avid picnickers ourselves, it just made sense! Thus, Uptown Picnic was born – since then, we have since executed over 350 picnics, expanded to Louisiana, and have made some amazing client and partner relationships.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Uptown Picnic Company is a luxury picnic and event design company serving the Dallas Fort Worth area. We are passionate about creating intimate experiences for our clients through curated and customized picnics for any occasion. We take care of everything including design + style, delivery, set up, pack up, and clean up.

We pride ourselves in the small details in each and every picnic, including hand-written name place cards, bluetooth speakers, and all the small picnic necessities. We want to make the process as turn-key as possible for our clients so they can just show up and enjoy the moments that matter the most. For us, personalizing each event quote and picnic design based on our client’s unique vision truly sets us apart from others.

We are most proud of the growth we’ve seen in our last two years of business. We’ve styled and designed our first wedding, were published in a few local publications, and were included in a summer segment on the Good Morning Texas news. We’ve designed over 350 picnics in the past two years, hired 3 fabulous Event Stylists to help with execution, and have most recently expanded our business to Baton Rouge, Louisiana!

We got to where we are today by learning what it means to be business owners (hiring employees, taxes and expenses, etc!), networking at every opportunity we get, and always looking for ways to grow and improve our business. We are so proud about how far we’ve come, and even more excited about what the future holds for our company.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Spending a full week in DFW like a local is one of the best ways to experience the city’s incredible cuisine, expansive culture, and hidden treasures that make the area so special. Here are some of our favorite recommendations:

We would first take you to Katy Trail Ice House and buy you a summer beer, which is a Dallas staple. We’d watch a Maverick’s game on their TV’s and bring our dogs for a fun day filled with good barbecue and good company. We’d then walk along the famous Katy Trail and make our way over to The Rustic to have dinner and listen to live country music under the stars all night long.

Later in the week, we’d be sure to grab coffee and breakfast at LaLaLand, take a fitness class at our favorite boutique gym Class Studios, and then end the night with a pasta cooking class at Eataly, an artisanal Italian food and beverage marketplace.

We can’t forget about Fort Worth – we’d get our texmex fix and eat at the famous Joe T Garcia’s restaurant, hang around the Stockyards, and then end our night two stepping at a concert at Billy Bob’s!

For our last day in the DFW area, we would do some shopping around the Bishop Arts area or stop by the Perot Museum, and then finish off with dinner at our favorite restaurant in the design district, The Charles.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to shoutout my dad, who was an integral part of our business from the very beginning. Leighann and I had this crazy idea one random Tuesday night to start a business, and I remember being SO excited about bringing the concept of luxury picnics to the Dallas area. A little background about my dad – he LOVES to woodwork and has been making furniture, decor, and wood sculptures ever since I was little. I realized we needed a picnic table in order to get this crazy business idea going, and so I immediately called him and explained my vision. In 24 hours, he had created a foldable picnic table from the leftover wood he had in his garage. 10 tables later, and we have an entire storage unit of picnic furniture and inventory that we use for every single date night, birthday party, proposal, or anniversary that we execute for our clients. We couldn’t have done it without him!

Website: www.uptownpicnic.com

Instagram: @uptownpicnicco

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uptown-picnic-company-llc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UptownPicnicCompany/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/uptown-picnic-company-dallas-3

Image Credits
Abbie May Studio Butterflies of Hope Photography by Heather Banker