Bolton BIA's Midnight Madness a great success

Bob Wallace won the poker set, donated by Beachcomber. Shirley Hoppler of the BIA presented the prize.

The Bolton Business Improvement Area (BIA) can't begin to thank all those volunteers, merchants, entertainers and Bolton citizens who came out to enjoy the evening. It was wonderful to see everyone from babies, small children, teenagers, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and even the family pet out visiting, shopping, eating, partaking of the events and dancing to the great music. There was something for everyone.

Music 21 quickly and expertly got the sound system set up on the stage that was so generously provided by Brian Ledson of Cavalier Transport in readiness for the headliners Darnion and his band New Hollywood, along with Randy and Your New Neighbours. The bands once again were hits and provided superb music.

Miss Jenni (Jennifer Fulton) accompanied by her family dad & mom on guitar along with her two children and friends started the evening off and were well received with songs from her new CD Going to the Zoo. Bolton has an abundance of local talent. Several students from

Cindy Knie (left) won a wine cooler from Canadian Tire. The BIA's Shirley Hoppler made the presentation.

Moura's Music Studio also did a great job performing for the audience.

The Can Tai Kungfu Martial Arts Group due to open in the Royal Courtyards mesmerized everyone with their traditional Chinese Lion Dance to the beat of a single drum played by Steven George the owner/martial arts trainer. Following the dance the group demonstrated their martial art techniques to the crowds in the upper courtyards.

Good food was provided by The Bolton and Palgrave Rotary clubs as well as the Bolton Kinsmen, Zagenella's, Sheila Lewis, Frosty Treat Ice Cream, Harvest Market, Felt & Slate, Black Bull, Riverside Cafe, Allegro Fine Foods, Coco's, Mr. Sub & Main Street Station who were all certainly up to the challenge of feeding the throngs of people.

The Jump Start dunk tank proved to be a great success with so many good sports volunteering to get dunked such as Victoria Kaye, Councillor Annette Groves, Fabiana (the Rotary Exchange student from Mexico), Pet Vet. Dr. Leonard Stevano, Vera Robinson, Canadian Tire managers Mike Mizzen & Karen Rains and the star of the evening Brian Zimmerman all for such a good cause. The proceeds will be matched by our good corporate citizens Canadian Tire and will go to the support needy children throughout Caledon.

We in Bolton, are fortunate to have the support of our young citizens. Hopefully everyone noticed the many young men and women helping out to make the evening the terrific event it was. The upper area of the Royal Courtyards was kindly made available through the generosity of Oleg Rudinsky and partners. The Caledon Youth Group, under the direction of Tom Linkletter, did a great job manning The Flipside skateboard event and the rock climbing wall. The BIA booth supported by Arlene, Nicole & Jessica Moore, Wendy Evangelista and Ken Chartrand was very busy selling glow necklaces and bracelets as well as BIA shirts. Hart Entertainment provided two very capable young men, Tyler and Will, with the very popular Jump & Bounce event. We were fortunate to have Sunj ay Chopra, Hapreet Duri and Atul Jaidka doing a great job working to keep the containers provided throughout the streets under control. Also, a special thank-you to all the citizens of Bolton who jumped in with helping hands at the end of the evening to put away chairs and sweep up the street. It was nice of Frank leratano to take his wife home and come back especially to clean up.

Behind the scenes the Region of Peel public works staff worked feverously from 3 p.m. until the wee hours of the morning closing Regional Road 50 then assuring the road was back to normal short time after midnight.

OPP Constable Philip Sequeira and staff of men and women officers did a marvellous job ensuring the evening went well.

Many youngster enjoyed the face painters that were provided by Mary at Kids Can Do and Shannon Turnbull of The Mortgage Centre.

The south hill was a flurry of activity as well. A big thanks goes out to Donna Forster of Forster's Book Garden, who worked very hard pulling all the south hill merchants together for this event. It was also through the efforts of Donna that we had transportation for the evening. Summit Dodge provided the transportation as well as driver Bob Mattar, who was kept busy going up and down the hill until midnight. Greatly appreciated Many Thanks to Bob and Summit Dodge's manager Troy Colmer.

Through donations from local merchants the BIA was able to offer a free draw. Lucky prize winners were Rachel Hribar, Allegro Fine Dining, $50 gift certificate; Dave Higgs, Mason 26 Spa $25 gift certificate; Garry Moore, Coco's Bistro $25 gift certificate; Kelly Harrietha, Riverside Cafe $20 gift certificate; Marni Serrao, 5 Cineplex Odeon passes donated by Prudential Select Real Estate; Stewart Valentine, Thruway Muffler VIP gift certificate; Scott Bebbinton, Thruway Muffler VIP gift certificate; Joyce Shannon, Thruway Muffler oil change and 20point inspection; Bret Teskey, Purple Haze $50 gift certificate; Cindy Knie, wine cooler courtesy of Canadian Tire; Bob Wallace, poker chip set courtesy of Beachcomber Hot Tub; Joanne Akerfeldt, 2 rounds of golf courtesy of Mayfield Golf & Country Club;

Melanie Cozzi, $50 Roots gift certificate, Global Wireless and Mike & Cheryl Babcock, Belgian manmade silk area rug courtesy of Your Flooring.

Many merchants reported back a successful evening and were happy to see a lot of familiar faces and just as many new faces shopping and invite them to please come back again. The Bolton BIA thanks you, one and all, for your participation.