The 60th Housey's Rapids Picnic Recap
Saturday, July 15th was a very iffy day weather-wise: 90% chance of rain with a risk of thunderstorms, meaning a constant back and forth with volunteers deciding if it should be a go or no go.
By 10:00 am the decision was made. It was a go. Worst case we get wet and scramble to get everything put away. With a tradition of 60 years, some participate rain or shine. Our numbers were around 50 attendees and then the Robinson Crew arrived taking us to over 60 attending. Other families that attended were the Craddocks, Lasaachuks, Irwins, Cliffords, Pilgers, Bells, Powells, Dunphys, Watsons, Whites, Houlbergs, Powells, Bates, Prices and Corbetts. By 2:00 the 60th Games began.
Nancy and Alison Corbett ran the games for all age groups. With the threatening weather, we passed on the Housey’s Rapids Amazing Race as the skies could have opened up at any time and the Race requires about 40 minutes to complete.
Scott Watson quickly filled the roster for the Horseshoe Tournament with eight teams of two battling for the coveted Cathy Dunphy Broken Horseshoe Trophy. Competition is always keen at this tournament and just a little bit competitive. Wendy Pilger and Shawn Corbett battled to the end to win on the final toss, a fitting result given that Terry Pilger won it last year with the help of Bill Irwin.
Gwen Hems had the Craft Table set up and had activities for the young and the young at heart. Gwen has been one of the picnic mainstay volunteers for many years and has provided crafts at the picnic since the early 1990s. The KLRA Grill was in the expert hands of Gord and Tien White. They were serving up sausages and hot dogs provided by Dave Purdon of Muskoka Meats. Gord has been on the picnic grill for over 30 years and has only missed one year.
Almost everyone participated in the all-play games. Those who were in the balloon toss are getting better each year as the toss distance is getting greater and greater to determine the winners. The famous Bucket Brigade, officiated by Keith Price, is the highlight of the games at the Picnic. A lot of water is moved and participants (especially the officials) usually get wet. The weather finally started to change and we could see that rain was only a short distance off, so we bailed on the Tug of War and quickly moved to our Pick a Prize Raffle. A Little Gift Bag was provided for all the little ones.
We were fortunate to get in as much of the Picnic as we did since the skies opened up shortly after 4:00 pm and it was all hands on deck to get things packed up and put away. No game results this year as in the scramble to pack up we lost our tracking sheets.
Our Community Picnic would not be possible without the help of the many volunteers that we have. The Picnic is always on the 3rd Saturday of July which for next year will be
Saturday, July 20, 2024.