It’s always a new challenge when moving an event from a tried and true location (Boyd Conservation Area was the home of our UCR picnic for several years just pre and post the pandemic), but this year, Andrea Heitz and myself decided to try something new. We moved the picnic to Cambium Farms in Alton, Ontario (right next to Forks of the Credit in Caledon). From the smiles we saw on people’s faces, we think the move was a success.
With 170 cars (mostly Porsches) and over 350 people, the event was bustling in and around the big red barn. UCR members and their families picked up their lunch and beverages inside the barn (which by the way was a gorgeous barn adorned with sparkly white lights and the sun shining in through old barnwood adding just the right amount of sunlight yet protection from the beating sunshine), while listening to the band, Chronic Pain, play outdoors a medley of rock n’ roll tunes. (Fun Fact, our very own UCR Past President, Michael Pohlmann, is a guitarist in this band).
Andy Hunt set up his captivating display of UCR Goodie Store items in another smaller barn, the Carriage House, while an amazing team of 4 volunteer photographers (Eshel Zweig, Bal, Alexandre Ayih and Jason Huynh – the latter two volunteered from R-Club) snapped Porsche photos in exchange for a charitable donation and 100% of the proceeds went to Brands For Canada. Helen Harakas, the Executive Director from Brands For Canada brought a team of 10 people to help coordinate the photos for charity portion of the event. The also hosted a silent auction inside the barn whereby some items included a signed guitar from Bon Jovi’s band, as well as several jewelry pieces.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t also thank the many volunteers who helped out at this year’s picnic. From checking in guests at the front gate (Gerry Cornwell, Rob West, Bill Sault, Marcelo Regen), to sorting the charity photo people at the fork in the road (Jeff Millman), to sorting and giving out the member name badges (Kate Sault, Roxanne West), to blowing up balloons and hanging up decorations (Andrea Heitz), to setting up tents (Ralf Heitz) and running the kids games (Andrea’s posse of kids), to helping with the prize draws (Christopher Hebert, Andrea Heitz) to photographing the actual picnic event (Wolfgang Lott) to……. (insert whoever I might have forgotten). A BIG THANK YOU!
Were there some wrinkles throughout the day? Sure. But we’ll capture them now while they’re still fresh in our minds, and we look forward to next year and hosting a wrinkle-free event. </>
