Lt.-Gov. Frank Lewis has been to a lot of levees, but until this year it wasn’t as host.
On New Year’s Day, Lewis also marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s reign with a special commemorative pin that he gave to each guest at the levee.
Lewis said the Governor General’s office sent the pins in honour of the anniversary, but there is more to come with diamond jubilee medals to follow later this year.
“There will be competitions for that and we will be giving them out to worthy recipients within the community that have done a lot of volunteer work and that kind of thing,” he said.
The small lapel pins feature a string of maple leaves spread out like wings from the number 60, with “E II R” and a crown between them.
Lewis said he will also get the chance to meet the Queen when he goes to England in February.
“It will be a special visit for us to see her and see the palace,” he said.
There were festive scenes in every room open to the public for the levee at Fanningbank with fires blazing in every hearth, a string orchestra playing in the entryway and Christmas trees decorated throughout the house.
Lewis, who held one of the first levees of the morning in Charlottetown, said there was a big crowd at Fanningbank and he enjoyed it.
“It was great,” he said.
Not every levee had a final tally for the number of visitors, but there was always someone at Fanningbank keeping a running tally as people walked through the door.
This year the final count was 790, which was up from last year.
Lewis said he and his wife have done a lot of hosting since taking over as lieutenant-governor in 2011, but most were much smaller events.
“This is certainly the biggest crowd that’s ever been through,” he said.
Once the festivities were over, Lewis said he planned to hit eight other levees before the day was over, including one the City of Summerside hosted.
On Lewis’s list was UPEI where president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz also hosted his first levee since taking over from Wade MacLauchlan last year.
“It will be a special visit for us to see her and see the palace,” - Lt.-Gov. Frank Lewis
After almost two hours of shaking hands, Abd-El-Aziz said it was wonderful to see the community come out to the event and he was amazed by the warm greetings people gave him.
He said Islanders see UPEI as their university so they ask about him and the school, but also often remember things they have talked about with him before.
“It’s kind of really an amazing community,” he said.
Abd-El-Aziz said when people talk about P.E.I. they don’t give enough credit to the community.
“This is what make P.E.I. a special place in Canada,” he said.
There were more than 20 other levees throughout Charlottetown in an annual tradition that saw hundreds of revelers spend the first day of the new year wishing other people in the community well.
At Charlottetown city hall, Mayor Clifford Lee and council welcomed people to the sparsely decorated council chambers that is usually filled with desks, chairs and other things needed to run a meeting.
Instead of listening to debates about bylaws, the sounds of a harp met visitors as they shook hands with Lee and council.
At St. Dunstan’s Place, Bishop Richard Grecco welcomed people in the packed hall where they indulged in glasses of wine and other treats.
For Premier Robert Ghiz, he used the Confederation Centre of the Arts to greet well-wishers, each of whom posed for a picture with him as they made their way through a line of MLAs.
For UPEI student Josh Coles, this year was his first at the levees and as he waited in line for his fifth of the day, he said his group might try to go all afternoon.
“There’s always the buzz about which ones are good,” he said.
Coles said the levees are kind of bizarre settings with people inviting you in to enjoy booze and food with only a short new year’s greeting when they see you.
“It’s the epitome of a schmooze social setting,” he said.
rross@theguardian.pe.ca
And happy new year to you, 'big'-fellow.