The Distillery District received a massive influx of brainpower recently, as at least 220 of Toronto's intelligentsia descended on the Young Centre for the Performing Arts for the Wild and Wonderful Walrus Party, a fundraiser for the four-year-old magazine that ultimately took in $91,000.
Against the exposed brick of the theatre's lobby, Walrus editor Ken Alexander chatted with Edward Burtynsky, a large print of one of the photographer's works, up for auction, displayed at their side. (Among the other items for bid was the right to appear as a character in Margaret Atwood's next novel. Suggested price: $5,000.)
Walrus publisher Shelley Ambrose worked the room, while the president of St. Joseph Media, Doug Knight (the other half of the publishing power couple), was seen joking around with friends, including Maclean's film critic Brian D. Johnson.
The guests then filed into the theatre for performances from several of the summer issue's contributors, including a hilarious reading from Jim Garrard's The B ig Ticket, a play about a woman exacting revenge on the man who towed her car, and a reading from author Camilla Gibb, who described her story as bringing together her two favourite topics, "Muslim fundamentalism and lesbianism."
CBC's Carol Off, who hosted the performances, turned the evening into something of a roast, noting facetiously that Mr. Alexander grew up in a very poor family with 17 siblings and had run off to become a walrus wrangler in the circus.
The party moved down to the Artcore gallery, where author Rosemary Sullivan was spotted in the crowd, as well as Marina Glogovac, chief revenue officer of Lavalife, who was taking a night off from matchmaking.
Russell Smith, known for the evening as DJ Roomtone, manned the turntables, spinning electro beats that, even before midnight, had a handful of the academic-heavy crowd shaking it on an impromptu dance floor.