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Wes Stubbs honored at Winter Festival gala

Jan 22, 2017 | 3:00 PM

The first-annual Prince Albert Winter Festival Tux & Toques Gala last night was an evening of great food and big laughs as the festival inducted Wes Stubbs as their first-ever honorary chair.

Festival President Barry Mihilewicz said organizers wanted to throw a gala with a unique winter theme.

“I’m actually the crazy person who thought up this idea of Tux & Toques,” Mihilewicz told paNOW. “It’s not something you’d see anywhere else, but I think here in Prince Albert and especially in Saskatchewan there’s nothing wrong with wearing a toque with a tux.”

Although many of the partygoers got into the spirit of the event and paired winter headwear with their formal attire, another type of hat stole some of the limelight.

The festival board arranged a brief skit re-enacting the founding of the winter festival in the ‘60s, and for added authenticity they wore the buckskin jackets and tailed fur hats which used to be issued to board members to wear during the festival, drawing laughs and cheers from the crowd.

Stubbs was presented with one of the authentic fur hats to wear in his role as honorary chair.

“Wes had about a 17-year stint on the board of directors in the early days, back in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Mihilewicz explained, “and during that time he ran the variety show and a number of other events. He was the indoor events chairperson at one point.”

“It’s a great honour for me,” Stubbs said as he accepted the post, but added he was forced to ask Mihilewicz to repeat himself over the phone because “I thought he’d said ‘ornery.’”

In addition to raising interest in the festival and naming the former police chief as honorary chair, the gala also raised money to help feed the less fortunate with a silent auction and 50/50 sale. At the end of the night the Winter Festival made a donation to the Prince Albert Food Bank of nearly $1,700.

 

Taylor MacPherson is paNOW’s court reporter and weekend editor. He can be reached at Taylor.MacPherson@jpbg.ca or tweet him @tmacphersonnews.