The Hub’s Razzamatazz, 50 Years of Fabulous Fashions a stunning success.

Barb McPhail and her granddaughters Maddie and Olivia.

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Hub, Mississippi Mills’ not for profit retail shop. It opened its doors at 66 Mill Street in May, 1974 and stayed there until a devastating fire in 1997 drove it from the premises. The Royal Bank of Canada then sold the organizers The Hub’s current location at 118 Mill Street for one dollar.

The Hub was founded by a group of women who became the Almonte Community Coordinators. As they say, the Hub was founded by women, for women and their families. The group still staffs the Hub which is completely operated by volunteers. The Hub donates over $50,000 annually towards hospice care, scholarships, health needs, sport teams, special events, Christmas baskets, Interval House, the Lanark County Food Bank and other community needs.

In celebration of this anniversary, on Sunday May 5, the Hub held a spectacular fashion show Razzmatazz, 50 years of Fabulous Fashions, featuring donated and loaned clothes representing each decade of the Hub’s existence

It was a sellout crowd of more that 275 people, all comfortably seated at round tables with a runway in the middle. Free coffee, juice and bottled water as well as a cash bar were available. Sweet and savoury refreshments were served at intermission. The capable Jo Ann Boisseneault organized the food and all the volunteers who made and donated sweets or who worked on preparing the savouries. In addition guests were entertained at intermission by the Somerset Jazz Combo.

It was great fun and the models obviously were having a good time too. They were encouraged to accessorize their outfits to give them an authentic look for the period they represented and sashayed down the runway with flare and humour.

The segments of the show each had titles such as Darker Days” (Goth,) “Back to Work,” “Cruising,” and “How We Wed.” A highlight of the bridal section was a role reversal couple with Nils Hamster as the bearded bride and Lucy Brown as the groom.

Lucy Brown as groom and Nils Hamster as the bride

At $10 a ticket, the show was a bargain. The Hub said it set the price low to ensure everyone who wanted to attend could do so. The Hub also gave away about a dozen tickets to Hub members on limited income. They did not expect to make any money but they did. That profit will go toward the repair of the handicap button on the Hub’s front door. The electric motor on the opening mechanism burnt out over the winter. The Razzmatazz windfall will pay that bill with, perhaps, a tad left over.

It was, overall, a stellar event.