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The Red-faced Archivist - the saga continues . . .
For twenty years the Red Deer and District Archives has acted as official archival records keeper for the Westerner Exposition Association. I have been a member of the Archives Committee and the Volunteer and Membership Committee. For ten years, until last December, I was a member of the Association's Board of Directors.
The Board subsequently decided to nominate me for the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions Distinguished Service Award. It is quite a prestigious national award. There must have been problems with Canada Post and the delivery of nominations since I won, almost certainly by default.
The Westerner Board decided to give me the award at the annual volunteers' banquet, as there is usually a big crowd of 400 to 500 people. They also decided to surprise me.
I was at the banquet, but due to a time problem with our babysitter, left early before the speeches. No one at the front of the hall noticed I had left.
The President of the Association announced to the crowd that I had won this wonderful award, and then noticed that I wasn't in the hall. One of the directors helpfully called out that I had just gone to the washroom and would be right out.
I didn't come out. I wasn't there any more.
In the words of the Association manager, the event came to "a screeching halt". The woman who organized the event and was given the job of ensuring I was at the banquet later said she "wanted to go into a corner and die". In other words, everything became one big embarrassment.
However, this gets better.
Every year the Red Deer College gives out the G.H. Dawe Memorial Award as its major community recognition award. The presentation is made at Convocation. I missed the last two years, but promised I would make the presentation this year. The recipient was to be the president of the Westerner Exposition Association, the one who announced my award at the Westerner Volunteer banquet.
However, I had agreed several months ago to speak at the Danish National Museum Conference and when I finally got the program I found I was the Saturday luncheon speaker. The luncheon was at the same time as the awards presentation ceremony at the College.
The President of the College reminded me that I had promised to be at the Convocation. The Danish Conference organizer was sure he told me I would be speaking on Saturday. It was too late to make other arrangements. I tried switching days with another Danish Conference speaker, but the arrangement fell through just before the event.
The solution? My brother appeared at the College and I went to the Conference. Still, I had cut my speech at the Conference short as I had to leave early to catch a plane to Vancouver for the A.C.A. Institute, after Air Canada moved my flight up by 5 hours.
The Westerner has rescheduled the C.A.F.E. award presentation for July 9th at the annual Fair Rally. I have been asked to make sure that I attend. I have also been asked not to go to the bathroom that evening.
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Michael Dawe, the Red-faced Archivist from Red Deer
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