The Retro Suites Hotel had a couple of really cool events take place recently that I need to tell you about. A Night with Oscar was a tremendous success, and the group that attended had a blast. Of course, we were all there to watch the Oscars on the big screen and to support a great charity, the United Way of Chatham-Kent. Deryl Hall-Giera, David Drouillard and Karen Kirkwood-Whyte were extremely supportive when I came to them with this idea. In total, with some of the food sales from the Chilled Cork and the silent auction, we were able to raise about $1,000 -- a fabulous start for a first time event. Of course, we weren't able to pull off the evening without a super cast. Phil Beard provided the photography, Pauline from Eve Chocolatier created some wonderful chocolate statuettes, Jaime and Jessica from For the Bride transformed our lobby and banquet hall, and CKSY's Greg Hetherington and Katy Uher emceed the night's festivities. The comments I heard from the participants were extraordinary, so it seems we'll be doing the event again next year. Stay tuned.
Last month, the Retro Suites Hotel and the Chilled Cork took part in Earth Hour. The hotel and restaurant, along with thousands of businesses and millions of people, switched off the lights for 60 minutes to bring awareness to the issue of climate change. In addition to turning off most lights in the hotel's public areas, we asked our hotel guests to participate too. We provided them with complimentary flashlights, since we try to refrain from lighting candles in our hotel suites. We also encouraged our guests to dine by candlelight in the restaurant, where we had The Shake perform. Having the lights off and lighting the lobby and restaurant with candles provided a really different feel to the hotel -- cozier, romantic and even a hint of mystery. We were glad to take part. If you want to read about our participation, check it out in the Chatham Daily News or visit the Earth Hour website. Hopefully, our world leaders take a cue from those that participated and do something momumental with respect to global warming.