{"id":5260,"date":"2014-01-22T14:40:40","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T19:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=5260"},"modified":"2014-02-26T15:30:38","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T20:30:38","slug":"restaurant-puts-new-spin-aurora-tradition-as-hosts-of-mardi-gras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/restaurant-puts-new-spin-aurora-tradition-as-hosts-of-mardi-gras\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant puts new spin Aurora tradition as hosts of Mardi Gras"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora\u2019s Taylor Dinner was 21 when he began his battle with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma.<\/p>\n

Now 25, he has been in remission for four years and credits a great deal of his recovery to the nurses and staff at Southlake Regional Health Centre. Happy and healthy once again, Mr. Dinner is now general manager at Aw, Shucks!, the popular oyster bar which, since its recent relocation, has become a focal point of Downtown Aurora.<\/p>\n

When word reached him about a degree of uncertainty over this year\u2019s Mardi Gras bash, he decided it was his turn to step up and give back to his local hospital. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to step in and make something happen here, it is just as easy as that,\u201d he explains. \u201cI have been at Mardi Gras a couple of times myself and it is such a great thing for Aurora and Southlake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mardi Gras for Southlake was founded over 14 years ago by Carolyn Hamill and John O\u2019Bireck. Back then, the parents put their heads together to establish for what was then simply a fundraiser for a local dancing school. <\/p>\n

From its humble beginnings, it has grown exponentially to become one of the largest annual fundraisers in the Southlake \u2013 and York Region \u2013 calendar.
\nThis year, however, presented some challenges to organizers. Opting to sit out 2014 while they strategized for the 2015 event, they were presented with a unique opportunity by Mr. Dinner, along with restaurant owners Larry Smith and Ross Jones. <\/p>\n

The group will conspire to bring together what is billed as an \u201cup-scale event featuring a full multi-course sit-down Cajun dinner, entertainment, party favours, drinks and decorations\u201d to the Mardi Gras North Foundation with all proceeds going to the Paediatric Oncology Clinic at Southlake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said if we didn\u2019t pull in a big sponsor, we\u2019d put it off for a year,\u201d says Mr.O\u2019Bireck. \u201cWe were going to focus on individual restaurants. Taylor was [in on the discussion] and Larry turned around and said, \u2018What about us doing it?\u2019 Larry likes to give back and he said he wanted to do his part in any way he can.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time doors open at Aw, Shucks! on March 1 for Mardi Gras, the group has a vision that will bring a \u201cwow factor\u201d to Mardi Gras regulars and newcomers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is going to be a wild night,\u201d says Mr. Dinner. \u201cWe are anticipating quite a big crowd here and we just have so much space to offer here. We\u2019re a new spot, and it\u2019s kind of happening and on the upswing and I think it is going to be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans include taking over all three floors of the restaurant, two bands on two levels, including the third floor patio, weather permitting. By the time March rolls around, they also hope to have the finishing touches on their upstairs events hall bringing their capacity of 420 up to 500. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to maximize the dollars going to the hospital, however, we also don\u2019t want to do something that is going to take the evening from Aw, Shucks!\u201d says Mr. O\u2019Bireck. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to have so many ticket sales people walking around that room that people walk away from there and have the sense someone\u2019s hand was in their pocket every five seconds. You want to get the biggest bang for your buck without disrupting the goodwill they are presenting to their clients and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. O\u2019Birick, members of the volunteer committee, and indeed members of the Southlake Hospital Foundation, say they hope this is not just a one-off event but will encourage other restaurants to follow Aw, Shucks!\u2019 lead so Mardi Gras can be held in a network of restaurants and eateries throughout the Southlake community, connected by live feeds and the spirit of the occasion. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou could run this model in many restaurants around York Region and that is really what we wanted to do,\u201d he says. \u201cYou could have a $100 night at Aw, Shucks! or $40 elsewhere to bring on the same model. That way people would still be supporting the hospital, but being entertained in the place they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

While plans are underway for future connections, the volunteers and, in particular, Mr. Dinner, have their eyes firmly set on March 1. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even imagine what it is going to be like,\u201d says Mr. Dinner. \u201cIf you have ever been here on the weekend, it is very happening and very busy and I think it is going to be very easy for us to emulate that same environment and atmosphere with Mardi Gras. I think what we\u2019re bringing to it is a kind of party element which is going to be very interesting. It is tighter quarters with more mixing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told our bar tender who is from Australia who doesn\u2019t really know what Mardi Gras is and said, \u2018If you\u2019re looking for a good time, and want to see what it is all about, you have to come out and experience this because it is one hell of a party.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Mardi Gras 2014, including upcoming ticket information, visit www.mardigrasforsouthlake.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora\u2019s Taylor Dinner was 21 when he began his battle with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma.<\/p>\n

Now 25, he has been in remission for four years and credits a great deal of his recovery to the nurses and staff at Southlake Regional Health Centre. Happy and healthy once again, Mr. Dinner is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/2014-01-22-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1mQ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-05 13:59:05","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\/5260","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=5260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}