January has been such a festive month! For me, it began with celebrating the Japanese New Year (Oshōgatsu), followed by Sherlock Holmes’s birthday on the 6th. To top it all off, the Bootmakers of Toronto held its annual Blue Carbuncle Awards Dinner on Saturday January 26th. This year, it was changed to a luncheon and it was held at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club.
As one of the newest members, this was my first time attending the event and I was pleasantly surprised at how well organized and just how fun it was.
The Awards luncheon began with a series of toasts by fellow members of the Bootmakers, which were all delivered with wit and humor, especially the toast to “A Certain Gracious Lady” (aka. Queen Victoria) by Margaret French who was perfectly dressed for the part. Doug Wrigglesworth also said a few words in tribute to Peter Calamai.
👏Our guest speaker: Mattias Boström 👏
After a (surprisingly) tasty meal, we put down our forks and knives and all waited in anticipation to meet our special “virtual” guest—Mattias Boström—Swedish writer, Sherlockian and winner of the 2018 Agatha Award for his book entitled From Holmes to Sherlock (2013). Mattias gave an insightful talk about the extensive research that went into writing his book, and his hopes that it will connect new Sherlockians to its long and varied history and tradition(s). At the end of his talk, three lucky members won a copy of Mattias’s book. If you don’t own a copy you can purchase yours here!
Mattias’s talk was followed by a fun quiz created by Donny Zaldin based on the illustrations (mostly by Sidney Paget) in the Canon. We had to guess the name of the story and the characters shown on the slides--and some of them were a bit challenging! Apparently, there's a quiz every year, so I’ll be prepared for next time.
Finally, the event ended with honoring fellow members for their contribution to the Bootmakers—it is an awards luncheon after all! A special plaque was made for Mike Ranieri without whom there would be no lovely program and exciting events. (To view details about last year’s events and award recipients, see here).
One of the most rewarding things about being a member of the Bootmakers (or any Sherlockian society for that matter) is being able to connect with locals and Sherlockians from around the world. The Blue Carbuncle Awards luncheon was such a great way to end the first month of the new year and I look forward to all the upcoming events scheduled this year! (P.S. I’ll be a giving a short talk at our next meeting on February 23rd 2019).
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