In the Town of Caledon a fundraising Gala was held on May 2, 2025 that saw thousands of dollars given out to support a wide variety of very fortunate community organizations, The generosity of the donors is admirable, and the organizations who received funding from the Gala must be very grateful. But the event itself has raised some questions when almost a month later the “Gala” was reported under a different title.

How did an invitation from Mayor Annette Groves to the “Mayor’s Gala 2025: a community fundraiser for 14 community organizations” become, in the gala committee’s invitation, the “Annette Groves Community Gala“? Did what appeared to be a Caledon event turn out to be a private function?. As reported in the May 29th edition of the Caledon Citizen it is called the “Annette Groves Community Gala“. But the online Eventbrite site for ordering tickets to the Mayor’s Gala 2025 carried the following invitation: For the purposes of responsible governance, fiscal transparency and accountability, a little clarification would be appreciated.

You see when a Mayor’s Gala is announced it is assumed, quite rightly, that the Town or City of which the person is Mayor is helping to organize the event. Take for example the City of Ajax which describes it’s annual Gala this way:

“Since the Inaugural Gala in June 2019, the Ajax Mayor’s Gala has raised $1,300,000 net to support organizations making a meaningful impact in our community! In keeping with The Ajax Mayor’s Gala tradition, the purpose of our shared experience is to benefit charitable organizations and not-for-profits doing great work in our community.”

And the tickets aren’t cheap, with five sponsorship levels running from $10,000 to $30,000. Now that’s a lot of fundraising! But for a really big show, mark June 10, 2025 on your calendar! That’s the City of Vaughan Mayor’s Gala. Last year they raised 1.1 million dollars for local organizations. Again attendance isn’t cheap. You can be a Presenting Sponsor for $100,000 all the way down to a Corporate Table for only $5000.

Or, if you don’t have enough to do this pre-Christmas there’s always the Nov 29, 2025 Pickering Mayor’s Gala. The point is that towns and cities are always throwing fundraising events. But you won’t see the Ajax Mayor calling his event the “Shaun Collier Community Gala”, or the Pickering Mayor writing his own boastful article about the “Kevin Ashe Community Gala”, Or the Vaughan Mayor hosting the “Steven Del Duca Community Gala.”

So, what’s so different for the town of Caledon? An event originally titled as a Mayor’s Gala alludes immediately to the Town associated with that Mayor. People buy tickets and make donations based on that relationship. It is a fundraiser guided by the ethics, principles and policies of the Town, open to full financial disclosure and public accountability.

But when it becomes “Joe Schmo’s Community Gala”, not organized by a Town or City, that is a totally different matter. That can be a financial wild west show with money trails leading in all sorts of directions. Well, at least according to fans of Ozark. And the gifts doled out to the various community organizations are not done under the auspices of the Town. These are now personal donations from the Gala organizers.

What’s so odd about this recent Gala in Caledon is that it was clearly advertised on Eventbrite, the online ticket seller, as an “Invitation from Mayor Annette Groves to the Mayor’s Gala 2025” and yet weeks after the event Mayor Annette Groves wrote a glowing report in the local Caledon Citizen,  in her own Mayor’s column, about the “Annette Groves Community Gala”

The Town has said they were not involved in the organization of this fundraiser, so who were the organizers of this sold out event? Will there be a full public accounting of all the monies raised, a list of the donors, and how the funds were distributed? If it is not the Town giving out this charitable money, then who? Queries to the Town of Caledon’s Communications Department for clarification were not answered by publication time.

In Caledon’s last municipal election campaign, a mayoralty candidate made this statement: “I believe in responsible government, fiscal transparency and accountability.”

Good words by which to live and lead.

The way I see it.

UPDATE. June 4, 2025, Town of Caledon Communications has responded that, although this is not a Town sponsored event, “This was Mayor Groves’ Annual Community Gala, which she held as a fundraiser to support local organizations doing meaningful work in Caledon.”

So, this event is clearly Annette Groves’ private Community Gala. Stay tuned.

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*image from Eventbrite