Greater Victoria entrepreneurs, dignitaries and others filled the ballroom at the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa last week to enjoy a wonderful dinner, hear an award-winning media entrepreneur tell his story, and round off the night with an intimate performance by tenor Ken Lavigne.
Dinner with David Black, a May 19 fundraiser for the West Shore Chamber of Commerce co-hosted by the Goldstream News Gazette, saw the Black Press founder offer his take on the media business and the success his company has seen since he bought his first newspaper, the Williams Lake Tribune, nearly 40 years ago.
Black, whose focus has shifted of late from media, also captivated the crowd with an update on his plan to build an oil refinery on the Northern B.C. coast, as a way of preventing tankers from transporting diluted bitumen from the Alberta oil sands through coastal B.C. waters.
Lavigne, accompanied by a talented trio of musicians, followed up the guest speaker with a punchy, wide-ranging set that prompted the audience to give him a pair of standing ovations.