By Pepper Parr
May 15, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington just may have witnessed the beginning of a tradition last night at the BEST awards occasion where seven of our citizens were recognized for their contributions to the betterment of the city.
Dwight Ryan claims he got the white sports coat at Variety Village – on sale – he couldn’t pass up a bargain
For the second year in a row Dwight Ryan served as Master of Ceremonies where he brought a self-deprecating dry wit to the evening.
Ryan will never be known for his sartorial flair – he claimed the jacket he was wearing was bought at Variety Village where he got it “on sale”. He then added that the white sports coat he wore the previous year was also bought on sale.
At that point Burlington’s MP Mike Wallace slipped onto the stage and pulled that white sports coat out of a plastic bag and of course Dwight Ryan put it on. A prank that was consistent with the way Wallace enjoys life. It was heard later that Wallace actually wanted the purple stripped jacket Ryan had been wearing.
Expect both Dwight Ryan and that white sports coat to show up next year; it is going to become the tie that gets given year after year at Christmas.
The presenting of awards to seven of Burlington’s BEST was a fast paced event that had everyone on their way out the door by nine. Ryan hung around for a while – he apparently wanted people to see him in all his splendour.
The nominees for 2014 BEST awards were:
Citizen of the Year – Angelo Bentivegna, Ron Foxcroft, Maibritt Bergman
Senior Citizen of the Year – Esperanza Peacock, Helen Deadder, Bonnie Purkis
Junior Citizen of the Year – Kevin Han, Caitlyn Kay, Connor Fraser
Environmental Award – Susan Fraser, Monte Dennis
Heritage Person of the Year – Alan Harrington, Mary Jane Pilling, the late Dave Morris
Arts Person of the Year – Chris Giroux, John Kemp, Leslie Gray, Tomy Bewick
Community Service Award – IronDames Group, Mary Nichol, Bob Vandenberg, Christine Karczmarczyk
From left to right: Mary Nicol, Tomy Bewick. Bonnie Purkis, Ron Foxcroft, Kevin Ham, wife of the late Dave Morris and Susan Fraser.
The winners were:
Artsperson: Tomy Bewick
Heritage Person of the Year: the late Dave Morris
Community Service Award: Mary Nichol
Environmental Award: Susan Fraser
Junior Citizen of the Year: Kevin Han
Senior Citizen of the Year: Bonnie Purkis
Citizen of the Year: Ron Foxcroft
Both the nominees and the city of Burlington were all winners
Both this year and last year were among the best. Well done again.
It was a wonderful event to attend and it is impressive to hear about each nominee and all of the wonderful things that they do in an effort to make Burlington a great place to live. Great work by the selection committee, it would have been very tough to pick a winner in each category given the quality of nominees. Congrats to all the nominees and of course the winners.