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2022 Quick Review
We are delighted to be active in the community again, after the two-year Covid hiatus, and we are equally delighted that the community continues to support our fund-raising efforts. The festival continues to feature the renowned music, art, drama, film, and food of our community culminating in our core festival events running throughout Thanksgiving weekend raising money and awareness for the fight against poverty and hunger throughout Centre Wellington. All profits from each of these events, along with all donations from the public, are donated to Centre Wellington Food Bank (90%) and CW Eats at CW District High School. During our fourteen years of active fund-raising, we have donated over $140,000 to help these two organizations meeting their mandate to alleviate food insecurity on our community.
Thank you to all of our volunteers, our sponsors and a special thank you to all the participants at our events.
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Film On A Plate
Our only FOAP event in 2022 was "The Hundred Foot Journey. Unfortunately, due to Covid, the Gorge Cinema was closed and our FOAP organizers had an extra challenge; where do we host our event? Thank you to the Fergus Highland Rugby Club for hosting us and thank you to George Mochrie for arranging the movie projection company. The movie is about a battle in a French village between two restaurants that are directly across the street from each other: a new Indian restaurant owned by an Indian emigrant family and an established French restaurant. Following the theme of the movie, the food served for the event included Indian cuisine from Tandoori Grill and a French dessert prepared by Arja Lindforce of our board. Despite the extra hurdles, the event was well received.
Thank you to our sponsors:
 
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Fabulous Fergus Pub Night
After a a two year hiatus, Fabulous Fergus Pub Night returned in 2022, bigger and better than ever. We had a record 94 participants for our progressive dinner spread over three of the most popular pubs in downtown Fergus; Breadalbane, Brewhouse on the Grand and The Goofie Newfie. Thank you to all 3 for preparing special menus for the event. Peter Piper (Peter Hummel) and Older Voices providing entertainment for the walk between courses.
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Thank you to our sponsor:
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Pumpkin Day
This free family event keeps getting bigger, better and more popular each year. In 2022, we had over 40 pumpkins carved and judged. Entertainment this year included a bouncy castle, face painting, highland dancers, a reptile show, the music of Turk & The Hobbit and as an added attraction this year, we had Bubbleology, creating a very entertaining bubble show. We also had our professional pumpkin carver return, creating another unique carving.
Thank you to everyone who brought donations for the Food Bank.
Thank you to our sponsors:
  
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Sensational Soup-Off
Combined with Empty Bowls, Soup-Off is always our major fund raiser for the year, as our soup-maker volunteers compete to become the winner in their category; youth, amateur or professional. A huge thank you to the soup-makers for donating your time and skills to making this such a great event. We had a wonderful selection of Empty Bowls available for purchase; thank you to the generosity of local potters for their continuous support. Thank you to CW Rotary members who have continued to volunteer to help with this event each year. We wouldn't be able to handle it without you. And a huge thank you to Madison Galloway for providing music for the afternoon.
Thank you to our sponsor:.
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Monster Month
Many Monster Month activities were cancelled during the pandemic but Sensational Elora installed "The Twilight Zoo" throughout Elora for the month of October each year. As a matter of interest, Sensational Elora won the coveted Community Social Responsibility Award from the CW Chamber of Commerce for installing the Zoo on Elora businesses at no charge when many local businesses were struggling from the shut-down.
While the Twilight Zoo is the primary attraction of Monster Month for the full month of October, many community partners have created synergistic events. Sensational Elora coordinates these efforts under the umbrella of "Monster Month", creating a website (monstermonth.ca) and social media content, to help attract visitors to Elora from all over Southern Ontario and beyond during the "shoulder season". The growth in visitors year over year has been very gratifying and, the fact that the Elora BIA committed a large percentage of their 2022 budget to help cover the costs of maintenance of the Zoo sculptures is an indicator that we have been successful.
The dedicated volunteers who came out for two half-days each week for five months, to help with the maintenance of the Zoo sculptures, are also a huge reason for our growth each year.
Sensational Elora also organizes another event as part of Monster Month: "Monster March" is one of the major attractions.
Adjustments to the route were made this year to accommodate construction on East Mill. There was an added feature called "Wicked Wagons" where participants could compete for the best decorated wagon. The parade this year far surpassed the number of participants in previous years with an estimated 1,000 plus marchers. Sensational Elora is proud of the success of all aspects of Monster Month. We are continuing to add attractions. Stay tuned.
We are also extremely thankful to The Elora Mill. They have become our first corporate "Sensational Blue" sponsor.
Thank you to all our sponsors:
 
  
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2023
We are in the early planning stages for this season. Save the dates for:
Film-On-A-Plate, May 22nd
Fabulous Fergus Pub Night, June 22nd
Pumpkin Day, October 7th
Sensational Soup-Off - October 9th.
Monster March, October 21st and
Monster Month from October 1st to 31st.
All dates are subject to change and other events could be added at any time. please follow sensationalelora.com for the latest news.
Sensational Elora is actively recruiting new board members and committee members. If you would like to join our team, we will find a role for you that meets your availability. Please contact us through our website or email info@sensationalelora.com.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates.
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