Tony Antonias began his six-week holiday in Port Pirie on April 11 and after four years of being away there is plenty to talk about.

He returned to Port Pirie after receiving the Royal City’s highest honour , Citizen of the Year, at a gala evening in March.

The award was presented by the city’s Mayor Wayne Wright and came seven years after Mr Antonias won the Bernie Legge cultural award honoring him for his contribution to arts and culture in the city.

The Pirie boy is the first person in the Royal City to have received both awards.

Mr Antonias is well known in the Royal City as an ambassador with arts, theatre and music – and while working for the city’s radio station CKNW as creative director in advertising, he was known to give struggling theatre companies free plugs on the airwaves.

After working for the station for 40 years, Mr Antonias went into a short retirement before he started volunteering for local and out-of-town

businesses, handling their advertising accounts.

“I took out of the community for 40 years so I thought it was proper that I put back, and I don’t charge them – it is all gratis,” he said.

When Mr Antonias heard that a theatre group was having financial trouble, he started a fundraiser that raised $32,000 and put them back on the map.

When not donating his time to a needy cause, Mr Antonias works on his other hobby of restoring classic cars.

His collection includes 1955, 1957 and 1963 Ford Thunderbirds and he is working on a 1955 Mont Clair – one of only 1786 that were produced.

Mr Antonias has returned to his hometown to visit his sister Vickie Kotsoglous and other family members and reacquaint himself with old friends, with photos and copies of his local newspaper, the aptly-named The Record, to show.

“The reception I have had has been overwhelming,” he said.

After all the great achievements he has been involved at home in Canada, Mr Antonias said: “I have been so impressed with what I have seen while doing the rounds in Port Pirie. It has blossomed.”