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Clowns, acrobats, snake handlers, and business folk (8 photos)

For one evening, the historic McIntyre Arena in Schumacher was transformed into a circus-like atmosphere. The 13th annual Nova Awards were presented at a gala event on Thursday evening.

For one evening, the historic McIntyre Arena in Schumacher was transformed into a circus-like atmosphere.

The 13th annual Nova Awards were presented at a gala event on Thursday evening.

The festivities are organized by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce as a celebration of the city’s entrepreneurial excellence.

This year’s theme was “Cirque”, which implied that the businesses nominated were able to juggle tasks and tame the competition while walking the high-wire of daily operations.

A cavalcade of clowns, acrobats, snake handlers and performers in purple were highly visible throughout the evening, lending a festive vibe to the ceremonies.

Chamber President Al Thorne says events like these are nothing but positive.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate all the great work our businesses do here in the community. Recognize one another and celebrate their accomplishments” he said.

Personal trainer Kate Durst of the increasingly popular Discover Fitness with Kate Durst Inc. says the evening is about much more than an award.

“It’s a nice way for us to get together because we’re so busy all the time just trying to run our businesses that we don’t necessarily get out and network with everybody, so it’s nice to have some time to see who else is in the trenches surviving day-to-day” she said.

Durst took home the Scotiabank Business of the Year Award, for companies with between 6 and 30 employees.

Thorne elaborated on how a business becomes nominated for a Nova Award.

“There’s a call for nominations put out a few months prior to the event. There’s a formal committee struck to review those, they are completely independent and based on the committee’s recommendations the award winners are chosen. It’s chosen by their peers, so it’s pretty special,” said Thorne.

Thorne also emphasized the support of over 40 volunteers who worked tirelessly transforming the hockey arena in preparation of the evening’s festivities, which saw over 650 people in attendance.

Chic Baby Boulevard’s Alicia Pirie was nominated for two awards, and won the College Boreal Young Professional (Under 35) Award.

“It feels validating. I’ve worked really hard. I have two young kids. Sometimes I feel like I was crazy to even think about becoming an entrepreneur with two kids, but ultimately my goal was to do something so that I could have the freedom to be with them” said Pirie.

She felt fortunate to win the award, as her fellow nominees have also made tremendous impacts on the Timmins area.

“I’m very honoured and very humbled to be a part of that category. Melissa Kelly (Melissa Kelly Dance Academy) and John Bonney (Timmins Wake Park) are both friends of mine and I’m amazed by what they’re doing in our community” said Pirie.

The ceremonies were emceed by Art Pultz of Rogers Communications, a title he has held since the event’s inception in 2002.

“It started off at Amigos, which is a bar, and we transformed that and had some fun. Not very many people were there in those days, maybe 200. It just kept growing. We moved to the garage at Northern Telephone. We outgrew that. This is the biggest place that we could get. Tonight, 650 people are here and they had to turn away people at the door. It’s basically at capacity,” he said.

When asked if he’d be returning for a 14th consecutive hosting job next spring, Pultz had a humble answer.

“If they’ll have me, yeah.”

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF AWARD WINNERS

(PHOTO: The team from Discover Fitness with Kate Durst Inc. accepts the Scotiabank Business of the Year Award at last night's gala. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday)