What do Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, crooner Michael Bublé, actress/comedian Carol Burnett and hockey commentator Don Cherry have in common?
They’re just a few of the athletes, musicians and other celebrities who have contributed autographed ties and items to the 20th – and final – Royal City Jeweller’s Tie Day. The highest bidders in the annual Tie Day auction will receive a tie, and their winning bid will support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, which provides assistance to more than 26,500 people in New Westminster, Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore each week.
“This year, the support would mean more than ever with shelves at the Greater Vancouver Food bank sitting at an all-time low,” said a press release from the food bank. “We have had to purchase over $200,000 worth of food this month to stock the shelves.”
Ken Basso, general manager of Royal City Jewellers and Loans, said the fundraiser was very modest when it started 20 years ago and grew through the years, but it has run its course.
“This will be the final one. It’s unfortunate, but it’s an awful lot of work and the returns have not been high enough,” he said. “We are probably going to be making a large donation every year.”
Tie Day has become a year-round project for the local business, requiring one full-time persona and two part-timers to put it together. In addition to requesting participation from celebrities, the business buys ties, shadow boxes and other materials for the auction items, pays to ship all of the goods to the celebrities, and arranges the ties and items into displays in the shadow boxes.
Bidding is open on the tie auction until 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26 at www.rcj.ca/tieday/.
“It’s really good right now in terms of bidding,” Basso told the Record. “Robert Bateman’s is going well. With Don Cherry’s there seems to be a bidding war on his.”
Community members are invited to attend the Tie Day bash at Royal City Jewellers and Loans on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. People are invited to bring cash donations for the food bank, enjoy some refreshments and see if they can win a prize.
“Mark Madryga is here. He generally does like a Let’s Make a Deal game with prizes. Basically they draw names for the contest and they have a chance to win numerous prizes. There are all kinds of prizes,” Basso said. “People should pack their pockets with things like bobby pins because Mark might just ask somebody if they have one in their pockets. It’s quite a lot of fun.”
