Every year… after Gung Haggis Fat Choy… we amaze ourselves at what just happened.  There is always such an atmosphere of wonderment, spontaniety and cross-cultural appreciation.

This year the bar was raised higher.  The production was more ambitious.  Professional musicians such as Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault of Silk Road Music, violinist Mark Ferris – concertmaster of Vancouver Opera and Sinfonia, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves – really pushed us to a whole new level.  And the Scottish dancing… Champion highland dancers this year – teen-aged brothers, Vincent and Cameron Collins – Double Wow!

Co-hosts Margaret Gallagher and Adrienne Wong bring such a sparkle to the stage, as well as their Chinese-Irish and Chinese-French-Canadian good looks and talents!  Poetry readers Neil Gray and Ian MacLeod share their Burns favorites.

The real hero of the evening was Noah Drew – working with a mixing board that was not working properly, so the sound system was not as even as we had planned it.  It is so challenging working our program that is trying to dove-tail with the delivery of the dinner courses, and has to jump around…  Deb Martin also did a great job as front of house manager – ensuring that ticket buyers had their tickets and their proper seats…