The Gibsons Public Market fundraising gala started on a sombre note June 27 as guests were told of the sudden passing the night before of one of the public market founders, Nicholas Sonntag. Many were shocked at the news.
He was the president of the Gibsons Community Building Society (GCBS), which is tasked with raising funds for expansion of the market, and he had been working on a speech to be delivered at the gala late into the evening with help of GCBS executive director and friend Gerry Zipursky.
Sonntag was never able to deliver his message.
“His contribution to our world, to our community and to the Gibsons Public Market was nothing short of remarkable,” said building society vice president Brian Smith, while announcing the passing of Sonntag to guests at the start of the evening.
“Nick cared deeply for our collective vision for the Gibsons Public Market and was providing his wisdom and his guidance to get us there. His strength of character, background in sustainability and ability to see many sides of an opportunity have in many ways carried us from the day we purchased this property to today.”
Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe, visibly upset at the passing of Sonntag, urged the community to pick up where Sonntag left off.
“Nick Sonntag was relentless and passionate in his efforts to make this vision a reality. We ought not to let him down,” Rowe said.
“Nick has laid down his shovel and it is now up to us to pick up that shovel and embrace the vision and make it the reality that he wanted. It takes a place to create a community. It takes a community of Nick Sonntags to create a place. Thank you, Nick, for your leadership.”
Smith said that while no doubt “many tears will be shed in his memory,” he urged everyone to celebrate the fundraising gala in Sonntag’s honour
“Let’s spend this evening together with the love and tenderness that he would have brought into the room. Let’s turn up our generosity and fill this space with abundance until it spills out of the windows and the doors and sends us home with that same sense of spirit of community that he got to enjoy,” Smith said.
“That is what I believe, we believe, Nick would have asked us to do and that’s what we together can do. Let’s give ourselves permission to have fun, to laugh and to cry and to eat and to drink and to connect as a tribute to Nick.”
Guests joined the band in singing Stand By Me in Sonntag’s honour while taking a moment to reflect before moving on with the evening’s festivities.
