12th Annual Fire and Ice Gala

Friday night was Leadership Waterloo Region’s 12th annual Fire and Ice Gala. I’ve been one of the featured artists for the past four years so it was a pleasure to be back again. Along with myself, my friends Jennifer Gough, Amy Ferrari, Michele Braniff and new-comers Kaitrin Beechey and Jack Jackowetz had some of their work available in the event’s silent auction. Normally the artists are all seated together at the dinner, but this year we were kind of spread out all over the place. I was at a table full of graduates of the 2004 class. It was nice to see how they all had kept in touch over the years. I sat next to former Waterloo mayor Brenda Halloran so it was nice to chat with her and her husband Fred for a bit. She even gave me her dessert after our entree.

The event was once again held at Bingeman’s in Kitchener. The auction basically ran from the time you arrived until about 10:45. There were three sections with available items, each closing at fifteen minute intervals later in the night. My two photographs were on the first table to close, but I was very lucky to have both of mine bid on before dinner even began. The artists set the starting bid for their pieces; once those prices were met, the piece was officially sold. Any extra amount bid above that set price went to LWR. My Seagram image actually got into a bit of a bidding war which was nice. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and it was able to earn just a bit more money for the program.

Photograph in a bidding war and extra dessert: pretty good night.