BIRD TALK

Dear Bird Talk,

It was a bright sunny day on Monday, March 15, 2010 when the first Ontario CSA picnic was held at Fort DeSoto Park, Site 5 in Tierra Verde, Florida. Approximately 495 Ontarians registered from all areas of our great province. To our surprise, a busload of Ontario snowbirds arrived all the way from Ocala, Florida! We were all extremely pleased to see them and they said that they were quite happy to be with us for the day.
The success of this picnic was due mainly to the assistance of 18 volunteers who helped in many ways. The musical entertainment provided by Gabe Benoit and friends from Timmins, Ike Jones from Peterborough and the Piccadilly Pickers from Kingston; it certainly was lively and toe-tapping and very much enjoyed by all.

The great door prizes were drawn for the guests who had registered; two of these were donated by Kodak Canada, Inc. and the third, a GPS, was purchased by the sponsors – the Canadian Snowbird Association and Medipac Travel Insurance. This certainly added to the excitement of the day.
A special thanks to Ron and Judy Steeves, who also assisted us with our very first endeavour, making this a truly successful picnic.
We look forward to seeing you and your Ontario friends once again on Tuesday, March 15,2011 at Site 5 in Fort DeSoto Park.

Stu and Isabel Irvine
Ontario CSA Picnic Co-ordinators

Response:
Ed: I was there with Pat, my wife, and our two mothers and it was a wonderful day. We met lots of old friends (some of whom we did not even know were snowbirds) and we made several new friends, too. Stu and Isabel and all their volunteers have begun a great new tradition for Ontario snowbirds. So we now have access to Florida picnics for Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, and huge events in Yuma and Quartzite in the West. What’s next?