December 4, 2022

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

Andre Dawson heads the list of former players coming to the Expos Fest autograph festival and gala April 22, 2023.

Moises Alou will make his first appearance and congrats to Expos Fest founder Perry Giannias for snagging him. More players will be announced as the winter progresses.

The get-together at Embassy Plaza in the Montreal suburb of Laval has been switched to a late April date because the Blue Jays no longer play spring-training exhibitions in Montreal in late March or early April, as had been the tradition going back a number of years. The function is also being changed to a Saturday from a Sunday.

"This gala will be the best ever, not only because of our lineup, but it’s a celebration of what a family and community could accomplish,'' Giannias said in an email exchange. "Without our supporters, it would never have been possible. So, a huge Saturday night party is in order.''

Giannias has said in the past the 2023 event would be the "last hurrah'' for his family because by then, the amount raised for the Kat D DIPG Foundation at the Montreal Children's Hospital will exceed $1-million, which was the initial goal. But that may not be the case.

"We have not ruled out continuing our philanthropy in the name of Kat,'' Giannias said.

The revenue generated so far, according to exposfest.com, is an impressive $955,000. That figure would be considerably higher if the pandemic hadn't cancelled the events in 2020 and 2021.

In between galas, Giannias has also raised money through online raffles, from private signings and autograph sessions involving Jose Canseco and the like and the annual L-Anti Expo collectors tradeshow, among other projects. Giannias has been a busy man.

Giannias and his sister Dina began Expos Fest to raise funds in memory of her daughter Catherine Demes, who died a few months short of her sixth birthday from a rare form of brain cancer.

Keep up the great work, Perry and Dina.