Quite to my surprise, Halifax Pop Explosion won the East Coast Music Award for Event of the year… Completely unprepared I stumbled through an awful speech, my worst ever I suspect.
Here is what I should have said:
Thank you, this is completely and totally unexpected.
I would like to thank my wife, for putting up with my working in music for the last fifteen years and my kids for tolerating my absences. I love you.I want to thank all the other nominees who are all driven by their passion for bringing the very best in music to the region, we share this award with you.
The Halifax Pop Explosion is the collective effort of several hundred of people. From our sponsors, our government partners, our many volunteers, the Board of Directors and our staff, the event is a collaboration and labor of love.
I would like specifically to thank Kasia, Steve, Josh, Julia, Matt, our staff this past year, and of course Alex Fountain, passed away in August.
We are all consumed to work hard to create an event that, year after year, artists from around the world are eager to attend.
At the end of this mountain of work, in bits and snatches during the festival, between solving this problem or finishing that project, for five days in October the staff get to watch amazing artists move a crowd to tears of joy, shouts of laughter, moments of intense brooding reflection, or simple sweaty, jumping joyfulness.
We create a moment in time where we can all come together and be a part of the music. This is a privilege for which we are grateful. Thank you.