Big night at Moose foundation gala

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/03/2011 (5355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No wonder the Manitoba Moose Yearling Foundation gala organizers are excited this week! They’ve been counting beans, big piles of them. In fact, they pulled in a $110,000 profit Wednesday night — double the profit from last year. It was “go big or go home” at $250 a plate, pulling out all the stops with Events by Emma, who transformed the MTS Centre hockey rink into what looked like a sheik’s palace — very dark, lots of curtains, exotic lighting and padded chairs swaddled in satin with matching tablecloths.

These people can’t fool around, as they’re now contributing to a host of charities (many youth-oriented) plus their Little Moose hockey program. Kudos to chef Richard Wilton, who created a tasty gourmet dinner for 880 people. The shining star of the evening was Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo fame, who walked onto a stage bathed in red and blue lighting with one other musician by his side — Anne Lindsay — and soon had a mosh pit dancing in front of the stage. After thunderous applause for the hit Try, he laughed into the mic, “You applauded like that because you were thinking, ‘That guy’s too old to hit those high notes!’ “

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Yours truly caught architect Michael McKernan of Stantec practically babysitting the silent auction sheet for Jim Cuddy’s sexy black guitar, signing up an additional $10 to beat the last offer of $1,300. “I got it!” he whooped. “My son is a huge fan and my stepdaughter is a third cousin to Jim Cuddy.” Larry McIntosh of Peak of the Market won the dinner for eight at posh restaurant 529 for a cool $3,200 — that’s $400 of food and bubbly per person.

“He better pay with money and not with carrots,” cracked a ground floor host. Spotted in the crowd: Premier Greg Selinger, MP Anita Neville, Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox and his wife, Lena, business guru Hartley Richardson, Variety’s Wayne Rogers, landscaper Bruce Johnson of former Marble Club fame, Dave Tompkins of Blue Cross and his elegant wife, Christina, a teacher at Tuxedo Community Centre Preschool.

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Meanwhile, over at the Delta, friends, families and co-workers were grinning ear to ear at the soirée Wednesday night, held to honour the top five of 30 people nominated as “Winnipeg’s Most Beautiful Women” in the recent Winnipeg Women magazine contest. Because of the beauty pageant name, many people don’t know it’s an “inner beauty” contest, where amazing women are nominated because others believe they exemplify the true meaning of beauty.

Some have overcome tremendous adversity and flourished, others are champion volunteers and fundraisers. Some have elevated families and friends, performed heroic acts, and/or brought intense joy into people’s lives. Interestingly, they all looked smashing. Beauty does come from within! To celebrate their win, their videos were up on screen for everyone to see at this feel-wonderful party for several hundred. Betty Ross, Marty Slyker, Margaret Tobin, Angela Ulasy Dowd and Shirlee Preteau were the stars of the night, on screen and off. Their judging panel included Janice Filmon, Sally Flintoff, Lesley Hamilton, Diana Soroka, and Sharon Taylor. “These women are amazing. I’m thrilled to be in the room with all these wonderful people,” said Preteau, an event planner whose raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.

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Kathy Kennedy is mad as hell and she’s not going to take it anymore. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but the wailin’ blues singer has multiple sclerosis.

At this point, MS affects her with extreme fatigue and “cog fog” but MS will take much more from her as time marches on. As well as a guitar player and singer, Kennedy is a hairdresser. If she loses her hands, legs and voice, she can’t support herself.

The liberation therapy to open her veins is not currently offered in Manitoba, so she has to go to another country at a cost of a minimum $15,000 to herself. To raise money to go away for treatment, she’s organized a Blues Jamboree Night at the Windsor Hotel on April 13, where she and her band will perform and open the stage to other blues musicians for a jamboree. Tickets for this bash are $100 for a guaranteed table for four, or $15 at the door. Tickets are going fast and will sell out. They can be purchased online (at womeninblues@hotmail.com). You can catch her with her Shadow band (Ron Siwicki, Scott Swirski and Norm St. Hilaire) Thursday nights at Modern, a new Ethiopian restaurant and bar at 354 Portage Ave. beside Warehouse One.

Got tips, events, sightings, unusual things going on? Call Maureen’s tip line at 474-1116, email Maureen.Scurfield@Winnipegfreepress.com or send mail to The Insider c/o The Winnipeg Free Press at 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg R2X 3B6