This year marks 60 years since a small group founded the Canadian Nordic Society with less than half the number of members we have today. When Council was reminded of this milestone, we knew we needed to celebrate it! After deliberating and looking around a bit, we chose the Centurion Event Centre on Colonnade Road for our venue. This turned out to be the perfect place for our celebration. It was easy to access with a lovely, spacious bar area to gather before our meal, and a large, high-ceilinged dining area with everything we needed for our celebration supper.
In true Nordic fashion, most of us arrived quite punctually at around 6:00PM, enjoying a drink and hors d’oeuvres while mingling in the bar area. Entering the dining room promptly at 7:00PM, we were able to view a slide show featuring photos from previous years of CNS activities, many of them provided by Past President Karin Birnbaum. Our President, Constantine Ioannou, welcomed everyone, and we all joined him in a heartfelt toast to the Canadian Nordic Society.
More than one member told me that the meal exceeded our expectations and I think we would all agree with that assessment. From our first taste of the delicious potato leek soup to the last mouthful of the scrumptious silk chocolate truffle cake, it really was an excellent meal.
Following our meal, the Past Presidents in attendance were each invited to speak, starting with George Hynnä, who served from 1987 to 1989 and then again from 2013 to 2015, and ending with Tim Mark, who served from 2015 to 2017. My sincere apologies must go to Per Talgøy, who was inadvertently omitted from the list of Past Presidents who were invited to speak. I do regret that we did not get a chance to hear from him.
We then enjoyed more dessert, and this time they were Nordic desserts contributed by several of our members. Takeaway containers were provided and people availed themselves of the opportunity so that by the end of the night there was almost nothing left. A very nice touch!
We lingered until around 10:00PM, which seems to me to be a strong indication that people were having a wonderful time, and the photos bear witness to that. Thank you, Barry Paulson, for taking the photos!
Special thanks must go to our Vice-president, Vibeke Reid, who oversaw so many of the preparations and was responsible for the festive decor. In addition to baking three of the desserts on the dessert table, she did a lot of running around in the last week, looking after many last minute details. She even ironed all the Nordic flags that graced the venue!
