On November 18, Winnipeggers packed the Park Theatre for Rent Party 7, a celebration of dig! magazine’s twelfth birthday! The lobby was alive with people getting their pictures taken, making strategic efforts to win prizes at the rainbow auction table, and enjoying music performed by Marc Tugby, Max Osawa, Chenoa McKelvey, and friends.

This year, the concert kicked off with two sets by talented students in the Jazz Studies program: one of Steve Kirby’s ensembles, and this year’s incarnation of Promise, led now by Derrick Gardner. For the last set, Papa Mambo added some Latin heat—and got a few people dancing! The jazz faculty joined them for the last couple of numbers, and brought the house down. We offer a heartfelt thanks to all the musicians who contributed their time and talent so generously.

For making things fly so beautifully, we offer big thanks to: Erick Casselman, sound tech Matt Mayor, and the staff of the Park Theatre; the Tugby-Osawa-McKelvey Trio and their guests; photographers Ken Tugby and Joe McLeod; volunteers Kathy and Jim Mckenzie, Judy Kehler Siebert, and Candice Tugby; and especially the hardworking Rent Party organizing committee: Lori Derraugh, Donna Tugby, Kelley Fry, Anna-Lisa Kirby, Mike Diehl, Jodie Layne, and Lynne Stefanchuk.

We are so grateful to our generous rainbow auction donors: Academy Lanes, Assiniboine Park Conservancy, Barbara + Cecile, Beyond Flowers, Boston Pizza, Chocolatier Constance Popp, David’s Tea, Jeff and Lori Derraugh, Desautels Faculty of Music, Flavia Fernandez Fabio, Fairmont Winnipeg, Five Small Rooms, Frame of Mind Gallery, Hilary Druxman Design, imaginet, InFerno’s on Academy, Jazz Winnipeg, Steve Kirby, Long & McQuade, Manitoba Opera, Royal Manitoba Theatre Company, Nicolino’s, Curtis Nowosad, Orange Theory Fitness, Packer’s, Rady Jewish Community Centre, Retro Glitz, Larry Roy, Silver Heights Restaurant, Saucers Café, Sharon’s, Leo Steinfeld, Théâtre Cercle Molière, Winnipeg International Writers Festival, Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Your contributions generated valuable resources for us, and great delight for our audience!

Finally, a huge thanks to all of you who came to the party, and who continue to read dig! magazine. We’re here because you care about this community. It was a great night—happy people, shiny prizes, stellar music, and the exhilaration of banding together in a big shout-out to the Jazz Capital of Canada!