Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce Edmonton

A very successful 2011 Irish Ball took place on March 12th at the Chateau Lacombe Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Edmonton. The evening was very well attended with over 150 guests from all walks of life turning out in wonderful style to this black tie event.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was the CBC’s Mark Schultz who, despite some issues with the sound, did a fantastic job of keeping everything moving along smoothly.

The Irish Ball is organised each year by the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce Edmonton to raise funds for the Wild Geese Endowement at the University of Alberta and for the Irish Sports and Social Society in Edmonton. This year, over $20,000 was raised at the ball for these worthy organisations.

Paula Molloy, who works with the Irish Embassy in Canada, was guest speaker on the evening and made a very informative speech about the recent change of government in Ireland as well as the strong trading relationship between Ireland and Canada that continues to provide opportunities for companies on both sides of the Atlantic. Ms Molloy, seated on the right in the picture below, kindly gave us permission to put a link to her speech on this website. You can view the speech here: Edmonton speech _2_

As with other years, the date of the 2011 Irish Ball happened to fall on the same day when Ireland played Wales in the 6 Nations Championship, the outcome of which was made known on numerous occassions throughout the night by one proud Welshman, Dr. Alan Jones. He is pictured below (second from left) with his wife Lynda, after presenting Colm O Carroll, chairperson of the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce in Edmonton with a Welsh scarf which he had to wear for the entire evening, as per the rules of the annual bet the two men make. The fact that Wales completely and utterly cheated on their way to victory over the Irish team earlier in the day,  didn’t seem to dissuade Dr. Jones’ gloating in slightest throughout the evening.

A Welsh man rubs the Irish man's nose in it!

Entertainment on the night was provided by the wonderful Irish dancers from the local Matterine School of Irish Dance as well as a big brass band which kept people on their feet throughout the evening. A great night was had by all.

To read the Edmonton Journal’s Nick Lees’ take on the evening, please see his article here