| EVENT REPORT 09.28.09 4:14 PM |
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Drivers, Celebrities Pair Up for Fund-Raising Scavenger Hunt With Interactive Pit Stops
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 | The Gypsy Kings
Photo: BizBash |
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More than 20 teams raced around the city Saturday during the second annual Rally for Kids with Cancer Scavenger Cup, created and produced by Solutions With Impact to benefit the SickKids Foundation at the Hospital for Sick Children. The two-day event, which features a car rally where drivers are paired with a celebrity navigator, included a draft night party for 400 at Muzik on Friday, the "Start Your Engines" brunch at Harbour Sixty on Saturday morning, and "The Winner's Circle" gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel on Saturday night.
Developed by SWI president Joel Hock, the event's goal is to raise funds for children’s cancer research, care, and treatment. The inaugural event last fall, chaired by Goldie Hawn, raised just over $1 million dollars. (The fund-raising total for this year's event is still being tallied.) SWI took the event to Los Angeles in May and has plans to hold similar rallies in Miami in November and Las Vegas next April.
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Rosseau Asset Management, SickKids Foundation, Air Canada, eTalk, CTV, Solutions 2Go Inc., Affinity, Shaftesbury, Toronto Sun, Pfaff, Serengeti Eyewear, Heys, Movado, Dan Aykroyd Wines |
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| EVENT REPORT 11.11.08 5:54 PM |
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Local Celebrities Use Secret Ingredients in Iron Chef-Style Cook-Off
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 | The cook-off at the Metropolitan Hotel
Photo: BizBash |
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Metropolitan Hotels and the Hong Kong Tourism Board invited four local celebrities to test their skills in the kitchen Friday during the Great Hong Kong Culinary Cook-Off, held in the Metropolitan Toronto's Mandarin Ballroom. ET Canada reporter Roz Weston, eTalk reporter Zain Meghji, and Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan of HGTV's Home Heist all competed in the event, which featured a six-course meal created by the hotel's executive chef, Patrick Lin, and famed chef Chow Chung, who flew in from Hong Kong for the event.
"Working with chef Chow Chung on this project was a great honor for us, and we are proud of the menu that he and chef Patrick Lin developed for our guests," said Henry Wu, president of Metropolitan Hotels. The hotel chain called on Solutions With Impact to manage and produce the event. Eric Aragon, the company's creative director, dressed the room in red and black and created an Iron Chef-feel for the Cook-Off with three food stations on a stage flanked by two large screens.
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eTalk, ET Canada, Colin & Justin's Home Heist |
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| EVENT REPORT 09.16.08 1:39 PM |
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Hospital Fund-Raiser Pairs Donors With Celebrities for Scavenger Hunt
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 | The starting line for the Scavenger Cup
Photo: BizBash |
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Twenty-five luxury-car owners paired up with celebrity navigators for the inaugural Rally for Kids With Cancer Scavenger Cup this past weekend, the final weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival. The fund-raiser, chaired by actress Goldie Hawn, and benefiting the Sick Kids Foundation at the Hospital for Sick Children, included three events created by Solutions With Impact.
"This is a Solutions With Impact event that we created for Sick Kids. We’re hoping it will become annual, and we’d like to actually take it nationwide, much like the larger runs," said Chad Brincheski, director of event marketing, who noted that Solutions has worked with the Hawn Foundation on other projects. "When we were putting the details of this event together we asked her if she would participate. She’s a huge philanthropist, so she was excited to be able to come out to Toronto and support Sick Kids."
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RELATED TOPICS
Hospital for Sick Children, Goldie Hawn, Rosseau Asset Management, Rasko Diamonds, Grand Touring Automobiles, Northwest Lexus, Shaftesbury, Aquarius Men's Wear, Cosmopolitan Toronto Hotel and Spa, Legendary Motorcar Company, Pantages Hotel Toronto, Peel Regional Police, Air Canada, Pfaff, Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, Adrenaline Media, 104.5 Chum FM, CTV, eTalk, Toronto Sun, Car Guide, Canadian Auto World, Investment Executive, Suburban Life, World of Wheels, Concierge and the City, Evian, Forest Hill Car Service, Insight Productions, Nascar Speedpark, Serengeti Eyewear, The Printing House |
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| NEWS 09.08.08 5:04 PM |
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Sponsored Lounges Offer Swag and Space to Chill
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 | The Luxury Lounge located at Lobby
Photo: BizBash |
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Sponsored lounges have popped up in the Bloor-Yorkville area to give celebrities and media a place to relax, get primped, and—of course—pick up swag during the Toronto International Film Festival. Here's a look at a few of the lounges around town.
Now in its third year, Wardrobe Lounge is a promotional platform for Canadian designers such as Greta Constantine and Nada Design as well as bigger brands like London Fog. Produced by Vision|Co. and fashion consultant Nicholas Mellamphy, the lounge offers by-appointment-only services to celebrities and stylists who want to borrow garments, handbags, and jewelry for the festival. This year's lounge is located in the Mandell Entertainment Group offices above Lobby and painted purple to continue the colour scheme of the downstairs Luxury Lounge. Blown-up covers of Fashion magazine, a returning sponsor, also furnish the upstairs space.
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Toronto International Film Festival, Greta Constantine, Nada Design, London Fog, OneXOne, Perrier-Jouet, Motorola, Grand & Toy, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto, eTalk, Fila, Olay, Cookie and Joe, Dior, Hewlett-Packard, Sony |
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| EVENT REPORT 09.08.08 2:35 PM |
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CTV Uses Office Space Under Renovation for eTalk TIFF Party
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 | The V.I.P. party on the fifth floor
Photo: Gary Beechey for BizBash |
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When CTV gutted the third floor of its Queen Street headquarters as part of an ongoing renovation project, Francine Socket, the station's director of special events and merchandising, knew exactly what she wanted to do with the space. "About a month ago I came up here and looked at it and saw the potential, and we decided to incorporate it into a party space for tonight," Socket said prior to eTalk's party for the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, which attracted more than 3,500 guests.
The space, once home to offices and work stations, was recently demolished, leaving Socket with an empty concrete shell. "We had many, many meetings about my vision for this space," she said. "I really wanted to see it as a nightclub atmosphere." Socket worked with Rob Dittmer of Three Events to create the feel of a dance club. Glass-topped tables, black leather sofas, and leopard print Dolce & Gabbana chairs from Contemporary Furniture Rentals filled the space. Socket also had two large black beds, topped in faux fur, custom made to provide additional seating. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling above the beds and DJ Samantha Ronson spun tunes from a custom DJ box in the corner.
"After the festival this will become work space again," Socket said.
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RELATED TOPICS
CTV, eTalk, Toronto International Film Festival, P. Diddy, Samantha Ronson |
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| NEWS 09.02.08 4:10 PM |
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Boy George, Sir Richard Branson Among Those Hosting Parties During TIFF
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Plans to entertain the more than 500 special guests and celebrities scheduled to hit town for the 33rd annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)—which starts Thursday and runs until September 13—are sure to create a buzzing party scene in Toronto, with everyone from Boy George to Paris Hilton getting in on the action this year. "We do a lot of focused entertaining for the directors and talent that come to the festival. Virtually every programmer will be entertaining," says TIFF director and C.E.O. Piers Handling, who personally plans to host two large dinners for 60 to 70 filmmakers.
"The rest of the party scene is basically our sponsors who are leveraging their sponsorship—Holt’s, the big CTV bash on Friday—there is a whole series of events like that. Then the distribution industry, Canadian and U.S., will get into the scene in a major way and do parties post- film," he said.
The TIFF party scene kicks off Thursday with a cocktail reception at the Rosewater Supper Club prior to the presentation of the Canadian film Passchendaele at Roy Thomson Hall. The screening will be followed by the official TIFF opening night gala at the Liberty Grand. (Barbara Hershenhorn of Party Barbara Co. is planning the event for more than 3,000 guests.) Alliance Atlantis also will host a Passchendaele party at the Drake Hotel following Thursday's screening, and Ultra Supper Club presents a performance by Boy George.
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RELATED TOPICS
Toronto International Film Festival, eTalk, Holt Renfrew, CTV, ET Canada, In Style Magazine, Alliance Atlantis, DSquared2, Flare Magazine, Hello! Canada, Canadian Film Centre |
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| EVENT REPORT 06.16.08 2:02 PM |
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MMVAs Host Indoor, Outdoor Parties Despite Downpour
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More than 2,000 guests filled MuchMusic's eTalk lounge and the parking lot outside the station's Queen Street headquarters Sunday for a multivenue party during the broadcast of the 19th annual MuchMusic Video Awards. “This is my 19th, but I’m still excited about it,” said Francine Socket, director of special events and merchandising for CTV Inc. “I like to change the decor every year, and this is the first time we’ve ever used [the second-floor offices] for the MMVAs."
Guests received colour-coded wristbands (with each shade allowing a different level of access to the event) at the electronic check-in, set up in a black tent at the venue's Richmond Street entrance, complete with chandeliers. From there, a tented walkway led to the ground-floor party, behind the massive MMVA stage, which faced Queen Street. A clear-top tent, courtesy of Regal Tent Productions, provided cover during several bursts of rain. “I chose to use a clear-top tent so that people could see they’re in a parking lot in downtown Toronto and, I like to say, under the stars and amongst the stars—because if it was a solid tent, we could be in a parking lot in Markham,” Socket said.
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RELATED TOPICS
CTV, MuchMusic Video Awards, eTalk |
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