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The annual Menekaunee Old Timers Picnic (MOTP) was held on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at Red Arrow Park for anyone 50+ years of age with ties to Menekaunee. There were 100+ attendees on a beautiful summer day that started out with rain but became bright and sunny by noon. | |||
The picnic opened at 12:30P with the Menekaunee Cheer by Menekaunee Cheerleaders Sandy (Olson) Saunier, Sharon (Brix) Powilaites, Judy (Brix) Williams, Judy (Fischer) Uecke, Barb (VanHemelryk) Scheffen, Carolyn (Mikki) (Olson) Jensen, and Jean (Fischer) Rizzo. Mayor Robert Harbick welcomed all attendees and presented the oldest woman, Marjorie Dupuis age 88 and oldest men, Loren Hanson and Elmer Knutson both age 84 with a new edition Marinette coffee mug. He said a remembrance prayer for old timers who passed away since the previous year and then gave the dinner invocation. | |||
Sandy Saunier of the Marine House, with the help of her nephew Knute Olson and Bob Cambray, provided a traditional fish boil. Other foods consisted of ham, meatballs, corn on the cob, potato salads, cole slaws, beans, rye bread and rolls, veggies and dip, watermelon, dessert, and coffee. A feast fit for a king! Two dollars of the $12 cost to attend stays in the account to pay for the pavilion rental and for postcard reminders to out-of-town past attendees. Alice (Minor) Baumgarten created the postcards this year. To keep the cost down, postcards are not sent to Marinette area people. They are reminded of the MOTP through the EagleHerald, Peshtigo Times, Time Warner Cable, Bay Cities Radio, and the summer edition of the Marinette City Lines Quarterly Newsletter. New this year was a picnic reminder via email for anyone with internet access. | |||
Menekaunee first ward alderwoman Sandy Saunier has been an organizer of the MOTP since 1995 and first catered the picnic in 1994. Sharon Powilaites co-chaired the MOTP this year with Sandy. Sharon and her husband John both grew up in Menekaunee, moved to Racine when they married in 1965, lived in Racine for 40 years, then spent three years at their vacation home in Dunbar on Town Corner Lake, returning home to Menekaunee in 2009, where they have come full circle from where they started. | |||
Names were drawn for donated door prizes, and tickets were sold for fund raiser raffles. Menekaunee items (t-shirts, caps, buttons) from Joe Shepro of Bayside Embroidery in Menominee were sold to keep the cost of the picnic down for next year. A donation from Farmers & Merchants Bank was also received. | |||
There were quite a few new attendees this year. Everyone had a good time reminiscing with old friends. That’s what the picnic is all about – the opportunity to reconnect with the past. Much of the past is memorialized in the Red Arrow memorial columns containing engraved granite plaques honoring old time Menekaunee families and individuals. There is a Menekaunee.com website that was constructed and is updated by Tom Peterson. | |||
Menekaunee is the area on the east side of Marinette. It was founded as a village in 1856 by the New York Lumber Company. The first annual Menekaunee Old Timers Picnic was 31 years ago on July 15, 1979. The group initially started with 150 attendees aged 65+ who were born and raised in Menekaunee. First organizers were: Alice Nelson Winters, Winifred Nelson Chatelle, John, Robert, Norman, and Loren Nelson, Marion Borgwardt, Lillian and Andy Eck. The potluck picnics were at City Park until 1995 when they were moved to the new, open pavilion at Red Arrow Park., and then to the new, enclosed pavilion at Red Arrow Park in 2002. Mark your calendar for next years picnic 7/30/2011.to get together for a few hours. | |||
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