Inniskillin, French CBC

Inniskillin has made an official announcement that the company will be the Presenting Sponsor for ICE GATE for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at Richmond City Hall. 'Beauty' shots by Al Burns below:


The City of Richmond has been working a long time to realize this sponsorship, which will help them pay their costs of producing this enormous and complex installation, as well as their costs in The OZone. Check out the story in Dine Out magazine: http://dinemagazine.ca/articles/post/inniskillins_icy_greeting_welcomes_the_world/


We met yesterday on the site to talk about their plans - a 60' tent right across from ICE GATE which will serve as host to their wine bar, to be open throughout the games. Viewers of ICE GATE can sample wines while viewing the installation. I finally met Ted Townsend, Lisel Jauk and Shivauna Brown. Also Eric Doucet, audio/visual tech.


They're also commissioning the creation of a poster of the installation - a gorgeous image of ICE GATE - which will be sold at their tent for $10, with proceeds going to support Olympic athletes. I'll quote this from their press release, because it is so apt: Inniskillin’s association with Gordon Halloran came about from a chance meeting between the artist and Inniskillin founder Donald Ziraldo at the 2006 Torino Winter Games. Their joint appreciation for art, ice crystals, Icewine and the changing temperatures that impact both provided the basis for the relationship to grow.


Last year Inniskillin (an official sponsor of the games) released a Commemorative Icewine, which features Halloran’s unique artwork on the label. A portion of the proceeds from every bottle sold supports the Canadian Olympic team and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.


CBC-TV, Radio Canada came to visit yesterday, just before the last few pours,


interviewing Emmanuelle, who speaks French wonderfully (as she is from France!)


She was gutsy and intelligent taking on all the questions for the artist in French, while the crew carried on around.





Here they are just before the 'wall of cold': Moina Blanchet, journalist and Jonathan Bierman, camerman