By Bob Grylls
WESTMEATH — The annual Westmeath Winter Carnival this year had ice hockey, ball hockey, euchre, bingo, snowshoeing, indoor and outdoor activities for all ages and of course plenty to eat non-stop.
It started with the resurrection of euchre on Thursday evening. The three with most points were Anna Moreau, Laurette Couturier and Frank Ethier. Ted Kingston organized the evening activities.
A co-ed adult hockey tournament co-ordinated by Ashley Bertrand opened Friday evening, commenced all day and evening on Saturday and was concluded SundayC:sunday afternoon. 175 players and eight teams participated. The increasingly popular outdoor ball hockey drew six teams and 115 players on Saturday and was planned by Neil Nicholson.
The Teen Dance with a hockey theme had more than 50 young people. Ottawa Sens jerseys were popular but the Westmeath Warriors had them beat. Madelyn and Melissa Tong displayed their limbo skill and took the honours. Spencer Lessard won a door prize. Chaperones Sherry White with her Kemptville College jersey, Duane White with his Midget Bulls one and Louise Drapeau wearing a Canadiens sweater made sure the kids had an evening of fun.
Students from Our Lady of Grace School Catholic School Joined with the Westmeath Public School students for a fun day in the snow. There was hockey, volleyball, snow fights and many more goings-on organized by the teachers.
Bingo was a big hit Saturday. Pauline Wright organized this one and called the numbers as well – with a little help from Addison Buchwald. It appeared that Braeden Bolt had the hottest hand and the best cards.
Saturday too, was a busy day for kid’s crafts; tables were set up for things to build, toys to play with and so on.
The buffet-style breakfast Saturday morning was a big hit. It blended into a lunch with plenty of choices that lasted the remainder of the day. Sunday morning was a traditional breakfast lasting until one o’clock. After a break the kitchen staff, who were so busy for so long, dished up a spaghetti dinner. It was hard to measure how many people ate at the Hall but approximately 350 did (most of whom had more than one meal).
Other outdoor activities saw a lumberjack competition, even a marshmallow roast. Mike Wendorf had snowshoes for anyone to try. 30 did so, mostly kids.
4-H members were everywhere behind the scenes and helping the fun weekend go smooth.
Saturday evening Dale Yuke was on stage to sing well-known songs to an appreciative audience.
Sunday evening was for the participants as Neil Nicholson and Brenda Grady, WDRA President, pulled names from sponsors of the carnival; Simple Things, Kenny’s Store, Wilderness Tours, Beachburg Pharmacy, Canadian Tire.
There were too many volunteers to name them all but mention should be made of Brenda and her kitchen staff, Neil for being involved in everything but the kitchen, Ashley Bertrand, Marie Paul McMullen & her family, Pauline Wright and Melle DeHaan who was at the rink on Saturday for over 18 hours keeping that ice surface crisp.
It is because of the volunteers pitching in to help, the sponsors and the community who came out, the Westmeath Winter Carnival 2016 was a great success.
