The Big Shiny Ballis back, with fresh confidence and sowing the seeds of a new Ottawa Pride tradition.
Wilde’s owners Rob Giacobbi and Dale Curwin organized the inaugural Big Shiny Ball last year amidst past Pride Committee turmoil. This year, the Bruce House fundraiser will double as the Official Pride Party with profits going to both organizations.
“Wilde’s had planned this event last year when the prev-ious committee was falling apart and it was looking like Pride might not even happen,” explains Robin Duetta, acting executive director of Pride. “They wanted to make sure that this city was in some way celebrating Pride that weekend.”
Duetta says Wilde’s lead in organizing that event took a lot of the burden off the new committee when it was formed and allowed them to concentrate on the festival and parade. A year later, Duetta thinks the committee is ready to assume that responsibility.
“After our performance last year and what we were able to accomplish,” says Duetta, ” [Rob and Dale] have a lot of faith in what we are doing and believed that the time was right to pass this back to the Pride Committee.”
“We’re really thrilled to be doing this with Pride,” says Bruce House Executive Director Jay Koornstra. “Last year, when Wilde’s threw it together, it was because we weren’t sure that there was going to be a Pride.”
Koornstra emphasizes Bruce House’s enduring link to the gay community and sees the partnership with the Pride Committee as a natural fit.
“Bruce House has always felt it was important to work with the GLBT community, so to have it with Pride now fits our desire to be constantly working with the GLBT community,” says Koornstra. “We’re really honoured to be working with Pride on this event.”
The hardworking Bruce House director also admits that he is personally looking forward to the event.
“Apart from the parade and the Town Square, I think the dance party is one of the premier events of Pride and I’m really looking forward to being able to party with the rest of them,” says Koornstra.
New this year is a five-course VIP dinner on Le Café’s terrace, which precedes the dance party.
“We’ve had great success over the past year with some of the higher end events that we’ve planned,” says Duetta. ” We’re having a premium on the ticket prices but they are getting back a lot more for that and I think that people appreciate that.”
Cutting loose promises to be easier at this year’s event, as well. Organizers say to expect shorter wait lines, correct change and no drinks shortage. Duetta says NAC will smooth out some of the minor kinks which frustrated attendees at last year’s event.
BIG SHINY BALL II.
Sat, Jul 10. VIP cocktails and dinner package, 7pm. Dance 9:30pm.
National Arts Centre (53 Elgin St). Entertainment by Sherrie and
Dan Gold, members of the NAC Orchestra, Daniel Cartier, Disco Inferno and the MuchMusic video dance party.
TICKETS: VIP tickets, $75.
Dance tickets, $35/door
and $30/advance.
Available at the NAC Box Office (53 Elgin St), Ticketmaster 755-1111, Pride (310-396 Cooper St), Wilde’s (376 Bank St) and After Stonewall (370 Bank St).
INFO: Call the Pride office at 238-2424 or e-mail info@prideottawa.com.
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