{"id":36722,"date":"2025-08-21T15:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36722"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:08:08","slug":"aurora-sports-hall-of-fames-inaugural-midsummer-celebration-bbq-makes-history-as-first-event-at-newly-named-slabtown-armoury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-sports-hall-of-fames-inaugural-midsummer-celebration-bbq-makes-history-as-first-event-at-newly-named-slabtown-armoury\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora Sports Hall of Fame\u2019s Inaugural Midsummer Celebration BBQ makes history as first event at newly-named Slabtown Armoury"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora Sports Hall of Fame President Javed Khan provided a warm welcome to more than 75 attendees at his organization\u2019s first annual midsummer barbecue on the patio of the newly-named Slabtown Armoury in Town Park on Friday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Khan was \u201cabsolutely thrilled\u201d at the turnout and offered a collective appeal to those gathered on the sun-drenched patio:  \u201cWe\u2019re all a part of the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame family and today, we celebrate all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long-time President of ASHoF was \u201cexcited that our midsummer barbecue will be the very first event at the Slabtown Armoury\u2014we\u2019re at the head of the schedule\u201d and he introduced the new tenants of the facility \u2014Jason Feddema and Marco Cassano \u2013 who took time from food preparation to bring concise and congenial greetings to the assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dignitaries poured into the event for their rendezvous with history, including Mayor Tom Mrakas, MPP Michael Parsa, and MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas complimented the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame as a \u201cgreat organization that celebrates our community\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrakas expressed his satisfaction that the Armoury was reopening for business, that the Uxbridge-based Slabtown was locating in Aurora for five years with an option for five more, and the ASHoF was hosting the inaugural event at the revamped events centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad to see the Hall of Fame here to have the first event.  Let\u2019s enjoy some great BBQ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MPP Parsa kept his address short and sweet, as is his custom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warmed up the group by applauding and commending the owners for their quick pre-dinner speeches. After eliciting chuckles from the assembly, the Minister of Children, Community, and Social Services then spoke from the heart about the value of the local sports organization:  \u201cThe Aurora Sports Hall of Fame inspires younger generations with the stories of great athletes from the community.  To Your Worship and all gathered here today\u2014have a great time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MPP Gallagher Murphy applauded the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame for \u201cgiving back to the community\u201d and the resident of Aurora spoke proudly of the organization\u2019s contributions to the cultural history of the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over a dozen red-jacketed Hall of Fame inductees were present to hear the Newmarket-Aurora MPP\u2019s glowing words, including Lowell McClenny, Steve Vickers, Alan Dean, and Alex Ansell. In addition to praising the inductees for their contributions to the community, Khan warmly introduced podcaster and attendee Andrew Applebaum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The engaging host of the Toronto Legends podcast mingled with guests and we discussed his upcoming event \u201cAn Afternoon with Steve Paikin and Bruce Dowbiggin\u201d which Applebaum will be emceeing at Aurora Town Square at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 7.  Applebaum\u2019s podcast focuses on Toronto legends and Paikin and Dowbiggin generated huge followings during their heyday with TVO and CBC, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora Sports Hall of Fame President Javed Khan provided a warm welcome to more than 75 attendees at his organization\u2019s first annual midsummer barbecue on the patio of the newly-named Slabtown Armoury in Town Park on Friday afternoon.\u00a0 Khan was \u201cabsolutely thrilled\u201d at the turnout and offered a collective appeal to those gathered on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-08-21-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9yi","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-02 05:38:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36724,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36722\/revisions\/36724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}