CBC Hamilton 118 James Street North
For this tour stop, Avi and I were completely on the same wavelength once again. We had planned to wear nautical-inspired outfits because we were hitting up the Leander Boat Club later that night to see The Dinner Belles (you know we love our themes), so it wasn’t a surprise to us when we both showed up in nautical stripes, but the matching denim jackets and EXACT same boots were unexpected! With matching Tour buttons to accessorize, it was guaranteed that people knew we were on Tour duty when they saw us coming.
The street was bustling, as usual on Art Crawl evenings, and we beelined straight for the grand opening of CBC Hamilton’s headquarters. Upon entering, there was so much going on, we didn’t know where to look! Characteristically, we were first drawn to the display of cupcakes, created by Cupcake Diner, and couldn’t resist sampling one each. I went for the Red Velvet, and Avi went with the Chocolate. Delish, as always! We may have dropped a few crumbs. Oops! We tend to leave an impression wherever we go. We joked that we’d be leaving a trail of cupcake crumbs down James North so people could track our whereabouts throughout the Crawl.
The CBC Hamilton space itself is really vibrant, fresh, and inviting. We like the splashes of colour here and there, the local artwork on display, the brick walls, and we even admired the unique grey, patterned ceiling. There was even a DJ, Donna Lovejoy, spinning some tunes to score the grand affair. The low, evening sunlight poured through the giant glass windows and illuminated the colourful space with disco ball-type spots of light scattered along the walls. After taking in the energy of the room, we said hello to producer Conrad Collaco, who I had recently met and got to chat with as CBC Hamilton were prepping for their launch. Conrad gave us a tour around the space, pointing out the staff’s different work spaces, and introducing us to a couple more members of the CBC Hamilton team.
Fittingly enough, that day, the I Heart Hamilton Tour had its first mention on CBC Hamilton, under their daily “Best of Digital Hamilton” feature. They had included a link to my entry on April’s Art Crawl, which was a favourite Crawl of ours, to date. We were really excited to see a mention on their site, and were excited once again when we saw the website up on the screens set up along the bright red wall. Naturally, we had to snap a picture of the proud moment!
After our spin around the space, we got to chat with video journalist Jessica Young, who I had spoken to briefly over Twitter and had wanted to meet. Jessica has such a fun, bubbly energy about her and the three of us had a great chat about Hamilton, getting to learn more about Jessica’s involvement and her impression of the City. Avi and I were happy to tell her about our Tour and share our thoughts.
Last but not least, what would be a visit to CBC Hamilton without a chat with executive producer Roger Gillespie? Having spoken with Roger before their launch, it was great to touch base again, introduce him to Avi, and share our thoughts about the website’s launch.
After all the anticipation, we were happy to make CBC Hamilton and official tour stop and check out all the action! I look forward to dropping in again.
– Kristin
