Dan Aykroyd Thrills Halifax Kids With Inspiring Visit

It had nothing to do with Borat, and Lindsay Lohan was nowhere in sight. Nobody was adopting a child, and Paris Hilton wasn’t the least bit involved.

It probably seemed like a less-than-Hollywood moment, but Dan Aykroyd rarely has such an enthusiastic audience anymore.

The Canadian actor appeared in front of 200 students at Fairview Heights Elementary School in Halifax Friday, and the writer, actor and musician was greeted with squeals of delight from the crowd that had just gotten through watching his 1984 hit movie, Ghost Busters.

“My time is past. I’m old, I’ve done my thing,” he told them. “But how do you think movies like that get written? Because I had an idea in my head as a young man. I put it out there … It became a reality.

“What you dream is what you can become. You have that power.”

The Ottawa-born comedian is in Halifax for a week to play some blues, take part in a couple of fundraisers and launch a line of Patron tequilas at Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation outlets.

Aykroyd visited the Halifax school as part of its “Pizza and Piano” program, where celebrities come to the school at lunch time and make music with the kids.

But while most of the celebrity gawking world may no longer be impressed with the likes of the former Blues Brother, he was certainly the biggest name to ever set foot in the Fairview Elementary gym.

“This will be the talk at supper tonight. They’ll be talking about it all weekend,” predicted principal David DeVan.

“Some of our kids will never experience something like this, again.”

DeVan said he was left scrambling after the surprise booking came together Thursday night. He spent Friday morning looking for a copy of Ghost Busters.

Parents were also called that morning and asked if their children could stay over the lunch hour because a “special guest” was expected.

After speaking, Aykroyd waded into the cheering crowd where he shook hands, gave autographs and posed for pictures while asking everyone he spoke to for their name.

First among the many pieces of advice he bestowed upon the crowd was encouraging students to write.

“The reason I’m here today, the reason I own a brand new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and the reason I have a big log cabin and I got cars and all kinds of stuff is because I’m a writer and writers own everything,” he said.

“So you learn how to write. You keep writing and you can write articles, movies, TV screenplays, books, essays.”

Aykroyd says he rarely gets to speak to children, but relishes such opportunities when they’re presented.

“As a nightclub owner and blues man, my constituency is somewhat older,” he acknowledged.

“We skipped one of those five-star, lavish wine lunches to come over here and have pizza.”