Ready, set, go

By | Nov 8, 2010

Fusion Halifax hosted its first Go Awards at the World Trade and Convention Centre on Saturday night. The young professionals’ networking organization introduced the new awards program to laud “movers, shakers and difference makers” in nine different award categories—humanitarian, innovation, newcomer, etc.

Mayor Peter Kelly and Premier Darrell Dexter both attended (to organizers’ delight) but the event was informal, with an excited and energetic young crowd. Comedian Pardis Parker hosted, with an acerbic tone that struck just the right note of informality. (A long aside on the much-used “sac”/”Sackville” wordplay had some people in hysterics, while others glanced awkwardly at their neighbours).

With the relaxed vibe, Go was a nice change from most interminable awards banquets. There were a few odd quirks, though. The awards were more than half an hour late starting, and then moved a breathless pace. Winners were hustled onto the stage for photos in rapid succession but didn’t have the change to speak, which seemed an anti-climax for them. Also, while there were long bios for the winners, we didn’t hear anything about why the other finalists made the cut. Since the Go Awards seem intended to celebrate the city’s unsung heroes, it would be helpful to tell attendees just why these people are special.

A few minor quibbles aside, it was a well-run event and an enjoyable evening. The passion and excitement in the room was contagious. Tickets sold out and the crowd represented a broad cross-section of the community. My favourite moment of the night came after HRM’s Andy Fillmore won the Urban Design Award (for his work on HRM by Design). I spoke with him just after he left the stage and he radiated delight. He was genuinely moved by the recognition. Developing HRM by Design was a tough job, done amongst constant public criticism. That’s the kind of work that will make our city great and too often, the people who do it are unnoticed. It was great to see Andy, and people like him, get a rare plaudit.

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  1. Cheryl Stewart Says:
    November 8, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    Trevor,

    Thanks for your comments and for taking the time to come to the event and then write about it. As the Chair of FUSION for our first “GO” awards year, I am incredibly proud of our first ‘Go’ at this. It had a great vibe and we had to be kicked off the dance floor so that is a good sign people enjoyed themselves! FUSION is run 100% by volunteers in their spare time and the team that put this together really exemplify the committment to making our city the best place to live work and play. I appreciate your feedback on the awards portion and agree it was a bit rushed. We now have more information about the winners on our site and we will be doing something similar for all 26 finalists. We were trying to strike a balance between celebrating great people and the braoder celebratory nature of the event. We will only get better as we ‘Go’. Thanks to everyone who came out to our event and who continue to support FUSION Halifax. We hope this will become an annual ‘must attend’ event.

    Sincerely,

    Cheryl Stewart
    Now officially Past Chair
    FUSIN Halifax