This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
The season starts Friday night. What season? Are you new here? The annual Downtown Orillia Candlelight Parade happens at 7 p.m. It starts at Front and Mississaga Streets and goes up the hill to the Opera House.
Once there, the new tree will be lit for the season at 7:30 p.m. Before and after, Creative Nomad Studios has a Christmas Market happening, on Saturday too, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Santa will be on hand and available for photos.
On Saturday there are wagon rides happening all day. Get on the ride at Eclectic Café.
Of course the great attraction is the annual chamber of commerce’s Santa Claus Parade on Mississaga Street. You can also watch on Colborne and Fronts Streets. It begins at 5 p.m. They have 100 floats entered.
The parade has always collected food for the Sharing Place Food Bank, drop what you bring into the bucket of the Toromont Cat front end loader. But, did you know other groups also collect stuff. Canada Post workers will collect letters for Santa (Santa, North Pole, H0H 0H0, with a return address), The Kiwanis Club will be collecting cash donations to help with parade costs, and the Laundry Lounge is collecting used coats.
Bus service is free before and after the parade.
Gord’s Gold
Many people have been following online the auction of Gordon Lightfoot’s things at Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas. His Gibson 12 string which was on the cover of the Sundown album went for a paltry $350k USD.
That auction house may have a bunch of experts, but they don’t have the clout of Southeby’s or Christie’s, or the deep-pocketed clientele. Consider a banana. Southeby’s just auctioned one for $6.2 million, proving the point of the artist, Maurizio Cattelan, our values are all screwed up.
Do you think Southeby’s could have gotten more for any of Gord’s guitars? Does the moon have craters? Some of them went for ridiculously low prices. The executors of the estate have been following Gord’s wishes, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
On the other hand it worked out well for the Orillia Museum of Art and History. They bid, and won 24 lots (50 items all together) for $300K.
Though not being specific about too many items, Ninette Gyorody, OMAH’s executive director did say they picked up a map of Ontario Gord drew when he was in elementary school, a guitar of 1950 vintage, and a guitar from 1963. They also got some of his stage clothing, some gold records, an underwater photo of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and some photos connected to his Massey Hall concerts.
They were able to buy so much because of a donation from someone unnamed who wanted the items accessible to the public. Ninette said until they actually get the items delivered, they won’t be saying what they got. We can expect an exhibit dedicated to whatever they have acquired.
There is a another round of the auction in December and Ninette said they are watching it. One of the items in that auction is a 1966 contract between the Mariposa Folk Festival and Gord.
The Shorts
- Couchiching Craft Brewing has Jeremiah Hill playing Nov. 22; Chris Lemay is in Nov. 23;… Quayle’s Brewery has Kyle Wauchope playing Nov. 22; Burke Erwin is in Nov. 23; Kyle Moning plays Nov. 24… Jakob Pearce is at Ktchn Nov. 22… Kensington’s has the Ben Benson Rewind playing Nov. 22; Michael Martyn plays Nov. 23… David Shaw is at the Hog N. Penny Nov. 22.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: The 2023 Orillia Santa Claus Parade.
