By CRM Staff
Hamilton, Ontario — November 20, 2017 — The long-time owner of Mountain Auto Body in Hamilton, and very active in industry association issues across Ontario, Ed Cummings was honoured at the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction 2017 Gala in front of some 800 guests.
Cummings was the driving force behind the Hamilton Santa Claus parade for 35 years. At first working as a motorcycle cop on crowd-control duty, he went on to organize the whole event, which features 1,500 people on floats and as many as 80,000 spectators each year.
He shared his business at Mountain Auto Body as Parade Headquarters. He helped to raise funds by organizing golf tournaments, spending the equivalent of some eight working weeks or more on the parade each year. His success led to being tapped to organize the 1996 Grey Cup parade.
A father of seven, Cummings might have been forgiven for drawing the community-service line at parades, but he also earned the Service to Mankind Award as a member of the Sertoma Club and served as President of the Mount Hamilton Kiwanis Club, helping to raise funds for senior’s community centres and local playgrounds. He has previously been named Hamilton’s Irish Person of the Year and the Rotary Club’s Mountain Citizen of the Year.
The Hamilton Gallery of Distinction was founded in 1984 as a ‘Hamilton Homecoming’ project. Its purpose is to permanently recognize outstanding Hamilton citizens, past and present, who have made “significant contributions” towards the betterment of the Hamilton community.
Congratulations to Ed.
