To help celebrate, we had a few special guests join us for the night. First was Jennifer Pollock, who bid $250 for the right to be "Trustee For A Night" at Calgary's Hollapallooza fundraiser last December and joined us as a Guest Trustee.
Helping us to fill in our intermission this month was Awesome Comedian Daryl Makk, a previous AF-Calgary Top4 Finalist, who helped entertain the crowd and help count the money to ensure we were keeping honest.
Pitch 1: Production Ski Bikes
51 years of age and a metal fabricator and welder for 30 years, according to his submission, his ski bike's claim to fame is that the entire bike collapses which makes it easier to bring it on ski lifts. Initial versions were kits that could convert regular mountain bikes into ski bikes, but they were bulky and unwieldy to take on a ski lift.
Chic would use the $1,000 to purchase the equipment needed to start mass fabricating the ski bike units, as well to help cover some of the costs associated with website upkeep.
Pitch 2: The Calgary Cookie Chase
In Simon's own words:
"Imagine it is a Saturday morning. You're at your favourite trendy coffee shop in Marda Loop (with a friend) discussing your investments and stock portfolio. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice two giant cookies running down the street as fast as they can. Following them is a giant Cookie Monster trying to eat those cookies. And following all of this is a camera crew."Simon hopes to take the Cookie Chase viral on the internet by filming web videos of the chase and turning it into a spectacle to help contribute to Calgary's cultural network by bringing excitement and joy to all who see it. Other benefits include more interesting content appearing on sites like YouTube when people search for the term "Calgary" (rather than the boring stuff like the old tourism videos that show up right now), as well as the fact that we'd be investing in our youth by allowing them to do stuff they love.
Simon and his team said it best when they finished off their pitch:
"We believe that children are the future. We believe the internet is the future. And we believe the Cookie Monster is the future."Simon and his team would use the $1,000 to fund the creation of the costumes needed to execute this idea and to help pay for the equipment needed to document the project, which they hope to pull off in multiple locations around Calgary by the end of July.
Pitch 3: "Take Off Your Clothes!" - Calgary Clothing SWAP
They are co-directors of the Calgary chapter of The S.W.A.P. Team, a non-profit organization which hosts a giant clothes swap called "Take Off Your Clothes."
Clothing swaps, which encourages people to bring unused clothes to trade with others, is great for the environment, benefits charity, saves people money and encourages fashion and culture in the community.
Hoping to grow the program in Calgary this year to attract more people, the largest issue facing the group right now is finding an adequate venue to fit everything in. This year, they hope to hold their biggest event yet at Hotel Arts in June.
Stacey and Vanessa would use the $1,000 to not only cover the costs associated with renting the venue for the event, but also to lease year-round storage space to store supplies and purchase equipment needed to help run the event like clothing racks, which will help cut down on their equipment costs in future years through owning rather than renting.
Pitch 4: Awesome Accordions!
Brenda didn't show up alone though. She brought along with her an accordion orchestra powerhouse of 20 accordionists to serenade the crowd and accompany her during her presentation. It was ACCORDION MADNESS!!!
Raising awareness for the power of the accordion, the Accordion Association of Calgary is a non-profit, multi-cultural, multi-generational group of musicians who are proud of their instrument of choice, love to share their music with others and are happy to perform for the community.
But the group's biggest desire is to let the community know they exist and that they'd love to play for you! Check them out at http://www.accordion-now.com.
Featuring our most diverse set of ideas yet, this month was definitely a hard month to decide a winner. Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it best when he wondered out loud if it would be possible to have "a cookie monster chasing a cookie on ski bikes with an accordion soundtrack through a clothing swap event."
But alas, there can be only one winner of the $1,000 and it was on that note that the Trustees went off to deliberate while Awesome Comedian Daryl Makk entertained the crowd.
And the winner is...
Keep an eye on Simon and his team as they work towards their July debut and make sure to follow their adventures on Facebook, Twitter and through their website.
Kudos to everyone who submitted (or resubmitted!) an idea or project for consideration this month, and congratulations to all of our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for the month of April.
BIG THANKS to our sponsors for the night Bite Groceteria and Village Brewery for the food and beverage for the audience, as well as Shannon & Maria Hoover at Endeavor Arts & Events Space for hosting us yet again.
As always, putting on a Thousand Dollar Thursday every month is always a challenge, and it can't be done without the help and support of our Awesome Support/Production Team. So a BIG Thank You to the following people for volunteering some of their time to help us out this month with running the event:
Photography Duties:
Livestream Production/Videography:
Live-Tweet Team:
Special Microphone Running:
- Kelsey Kashluba (and in high-heels no less!)
Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy evening to come down and help celebrate our one-year anniversary. Special thanks again to our special Awesome Guests Jennifer Pollock, Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Daryl Makk for helping us make our one-year event that much more awesome. Our next Thousand Dollar Thursday will be on Thursday, May 24. Stay tuned for our announcement of the venue!
Finally, if you missed out on the event, check out our "live-to-tape" version of it on our YouTube channel here:
Hope to see you out next month!
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