Nickel City celebration

Coming from Sudbury is special, although you may have to venture elsewhere to begin to appreciate just how special it is.

Close to 300 former Sudburians now living in the GTA came together for the second annual Toronto Celebrates Sudbury event Nov. 14 to reconnect with old friends and gush about how much they love their home town.

Gord Quaiattini, who grew up in Lo-ellen Park and left the city in 1989, summed it up best saying, “Sudbury is still in my heart. My parents are there. My family is there. You move away from Sudbury, but Sudbury never leaves you.”

Without exception, they miss the lakes, the sense of community and the closeness of family and friends, not to mention porketta from the Caruso Club, chicken on a bun from Deluxe Hamburgers, rye bread from Golden Grain Bakery and sausage from Tarini Brothers, all of which were featured in a sumptuous spread prepared by former Sudburian-turned-Toronto restauranteur Ed Ho.

Marnie Delwo, a graduate of Sudbury Secondary’s performing arts program, is an aspiring singer and actress who lives in Toronto but loves going home to Sudbury.

“It’s where my core friends and family are. It’s a beautiful city with all the water. I can’t imagine anywhere else being better. There’s so much to do there and there are so many people who have tried to make it better.”

Andre Bharti, a graduate of LaSalle Secondary, misses the “neighbourhood feel” of the city and the ease of making friends.

Andrew McFarlane, a lawyer with McMillan LLP, remembers the fall colours, the clear evenings, the sun shining on the smoke coming out of the Superstack and the Italian food, His wife, Karola, confided that he kept a porketta roll in the freezer for a year “because it’s from Sudbury and he wanted to save it for a special occasion.”

Also in attendance was Sherri Haigh, a LaSalle Secondary grad who worked as a reporter in Sudbury for eight years before leaving the city to pursue her career.

“Sudbury,” she gushed, “is an amazing city full of awesome, amazing people.”

The second annual Toronto Celebrates Sudbury reunion “was everything we dreamed it would be and better,” said Perry Dellelce, the driving force behind the event.

“The buzz was amazing. The room was filled and the energy was unparalleled. Everybody was really excited to be there.”

Next year’s instalment promises to be bigger and better still.

“When we started this, we had a database of 45 people,” said Dellelce. “At the end of last year, we were at 500, and now we’re well north of 1,000.”

In addition to being a great night out and an opportunity to reconnect with old friends, Toronto Celebrates Sudbury raised “between $50,000 and $100,000” for Health Sciences North.
 

-Norn Tollinsky, editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal