February 2020 Ring Report
- Ring Report submitted by Dennis Chan -
The Vancouver Magic Circle held its prestigious banquet and awards evening on Saturday, February 22 at the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club in Coquitlam. Arriving early at the venue to set up the sound, staging, lights, and backdrops were Graham Kita, Rod Boss, Gabriella Lester, Alex Zander, Billy Hsueh, Shawn Farquhar, Wiley Allen, Mike Vetterli, Scott Jansen, Harmony Woodington and the evening’s performers Chris Gowen and Camilo Dominguez.
The theme for the evening was Magic, Love and Dinner. The evening started off with the club’s annual photo taken by Henry Tom. Next, Rod Boss (Master of Ceremonies) thanked the members and guests for attending the event. Outgoing President Bryn Williams thanked the members for his support during his term as President. Rod Boss and Graham Kita handed out one year loyalty pins to Steve Boscka, Ken Cowie, Derek Morrison, and Harmony Woodington. (not in attendance were Donovan Atreides, Greg Deitlein, John Ha, Jonathan Santiago and Tai Nguyen) Five year pins went to Rod Boss, Cameron Minty, Marianne Dumay, and Kaj Eiljers. (not in attendance were Yoosik Oum and Ed Stehr.) Receiving their ten year pins were Billy Hsueh . (Glen Andrews, Bruce Meyers, and John Stenning were not in attendance.) Fifteen year pins went to Jack Chow, Frank Pataki, and Werner De Schaetzen. (Amanda O’Leary, Errol Lipschitz, and Tony Wilson were not in attendance.) There were no twenty year recipients. Twenty-five year pins went to Graham Kita. (Rob Tomkow and Jack Lillico were not in attendance) Thirty years recognition went to Lon Mandrake and Dennis Chan. (Jack Poulter was not in attendance)
The Helping Hands certificates went to Terri Kita, Joanna Williams, Darlene McCroary, Tyler Mayfield, Chelsea Kita, Suzanne Gustafson, Chantel Allen and Chris Vetterli. Contest winner certificates went to Glen LaBarre, Rod Boss, John Stenning, Gabriella Lester, and Robert Teszka. The Wand Holder’s Degrees went to Rod Boss and Scott Jansen. Nominations for the President’s award were Graham Kita, Robert Teszka, Yoosik Oum, Care Elise Dyck and Rod Boss. Rod Boss was the winner which was presented by Bryn Williams. Bryn Williams received the Past President’s award. The winner of the Kramien award for showmanship was Rod Boss. Kelvin Ng won the Murray award for the most creative performance. Graham Kita was the winner of the Dave Culos memorial trophy for the Golden Rabbit award. Graham was also awarded a lifetime membership to the Vancouver Magic Circle. Congratulations Graham. Steve Braybrooke was the winner of the silver knife for the Best Spread.
Prize draws were held throughout the evening with Rod Boss calling out the numbers and Graham Kita and Gabriella Lester handing out the prizes. Prize donors were Graham Kita, Dennis Chan, Rod Boss, Shawn Farquhar, Gary Robins, and Lon Mandrake. Special thanks to Harmony Woodington and Care Elise Dyck for donating the grand prize basket of tea, chocolate and “pamper” items . Thanks to all those who donated the prizes. Many thanks to Shawn Farquhar for letting the club use his backdrops and lighting.
After the delicious buffet, it was time for the swearing in of the new executive for the 2020 magic season. Presiding over the swearing in ceremony was International I.B.M. President Alex Zander with a special candle ceremony as he read out the duties of the new executive. The new executive for the 2020 magic season are: President, Rod Boss, 1st VP, Care Elise Dyck, 2nd VP, Yoosik Oum, secretary, Roy Hopwood, Treasurer, Wiley Allen, and Sergeant-at-arms, Dennis Chan. Congratulations everyone. Rod recognized the VMC past presidents who were in attendance. They were Graham Kita, Juan Garcia, Mike Norden, Gord Boyes, Billy Hsueh, Alex Zander, Bill Lee and Bryn Williams.
The highlight of the evening was the magical performances put on by Chris Gowen and Camilo Dominguez. Both performers put on very comedic acts with plenty of laughter and audience participation. During the evening, walkaround magic was performed by Rod Boss, Graham Kita, Robert Teszka, Jordan Vo, Bryn Williams, Rod Chow, Henry Tom, Lon Mandrake, Mike Vetterli, and Scott Jansen. Working the front desk were Gabriella Lester , Billy Hsueh and Dennis Chan.
Ticket sellers were Gabriella Lester, Dennis Chan, Terri Kita, and Wiley Allen. Photographers were Graham Kita and Henry Tom. And once again many thanks to Billy Hsueh for all his hard work and dedication as the banquet organizer and for making all the arrangements to hold the installation banquet at the Westwood Plateau. This was the fourth year at this venue. The Vancouver Magic Circle thank all those who attended this year’s installation banquet and awards evening. It was truly a prestigious and successful event. Everyone enjoyed the evening. Thank you again Rod for doing such an excellent job as Master of Ceremonies and providing the sound system . There were 53 guests and 35 members in attendance.
