Hawaiian luau raises funds for Haida carving
A Hawaiian pig luau came to Edmonton one night last week to chase away rain and earn $30,000 to help fund a Haida carving for CASA.
“It was a classic night,” said hotelier guest Peter Parmar. “Hula dancers, drums and beach. Palm-tree decorated clothing brought some badly needy aloha to Edmonton.”
It was my annual Pinot on the Patio night at the Royal Glenora Club.
For 18 years, I have used my favourite grape to help a charity, knowing red Pinot Noir wine boasts ripe raspberry and cherry aromas and is the most versatile wine for food pairings.
Some 20 wine agents rallied to help me half fulfil a promise I made to CASA, providers of mental health services to youngsters and their families.
I had pledged to fund a carving by Haida Gwaii artist Ben Davidson, who five years ago created a three-metre-high totem pole my cycling friends and I brought back for the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
To mark the fifth anniversary of the ride, our cycling crew agreed we should work with Davidson to help CASA.
But Davidson said when we cycled out to share a celebratory dinner with him two weeks ago, he had a better idea than a totem pole.
“The new $24-million CASA building in Allendale might be intimidating to some youngsters visiting it for the first time,” he said. “We need something more welcoming.”
We decided on a four metrehigh sculpture of ravens and eagles, representing the family-centred care through which CASA staff help children to grow into healthy adults.
Davidson’s sculpture has been valued at $150,000 but said the price tag for us is $60,000.
It took me seconds to figure if I raised $30,000 at both Pinot on the Patio and my Aug. 28 Zin on the River at the Hotel Macdonald, we would have it covered.
On the last night of our recent 908-kilometre ride to Mile Zero of the Yellowhead Highway on Haida Gwaii, Davidson announced he would help CASA even more.
“If anyone is interested in a smaller, scale, custom-made sculpture for their own home or business, I will make one in the colours they request,” he said.
Our good friend Frank Flaman became Pinot’s presenting sponsor, while Indian restaurateur Ramesh Devangodi, who recently opened a Haweli restaurant on South Edmonton Common, was praised for donating a wonderful meal to the event for the last 18 years.
Highlights at our auction, conducted by the media’s Rob Christie and Mark Connolly, included Brian Moody and John Bodnar, each paying $1,800 to take six people to the Chateau Lacombe for a weekend VIP stay.
A canvas family portrait to be shot in Jasper by Edmonton photographer Fred Katz was snapped up for $1,350 by Simon Sochatsky. Included was a twonight stay in a family suite at the Best Western Jasper Inn, Marmot Basin ski lift tickets and a Lexus to get there.
Richard Wong has left his job of running the Edmonton Convention Centre to return to Nova Hotels as its president.
He takes over from Aleksa Mrdjenovich, who become chief executive of her father Mike Mrdjenovich’s 14-hotel chain. “I am 6½ months pregnant,” says Aleksa Mrdjenovich. “(Wong) will run the hotels’ day-to-day business.”
Wong served previously as both general manager of Edmonton’s Sutton Place Hotel and Mrdjenovich’s Chateau Lacombe Hotel.
Born in Fiji as the youngest of 11 children, he grew up playing touch rugby barefoot on the beach.
Wong’s boatbuilder father died when he was nine and his mother worked late into the night to create crafts to sell when cruise liners arrived at 8 a.m.
“I was one of seven siblings she sent to a private school,” said Wong. “One of my brothers sponsored the family in 1977 and we came to Vancouver when I was aged 13.”
Wong later worked for Sutton Place Hotels and impressed the company. It invited him in 2002 to find a hotel he would like to run.
“When I got out of a taxi from the airport in Edmonton, I knew this was the hotel I wanted,” he said.
Wong became a big supporter of Edmonton’s Food Bank and a driving force behind the Pilgrim Hospice Society, now running a $15-million capital campaign to build Edmonton’s first free-standing residential community hospice.