Friday night was a triple-header for Missy - awards night, 50th anniversary and retirement party for Olympians Attila & Tamas jr..
Carrie gave me a lift and we got there around 6:30. Paddlers and parents packed the top floor of the Crooked Cue (and as Kyle says, if you've paddled, you know where that is). This was a nice change from our usual banquet halls, legions and church basements. Not that those parties weren't fun, they were, but there's an impersonal feel to that type of venue that you don't get at the Cue. And bonus: full bar and the food was pretty amazing. There was a noticable lack of 20-something paddlers - people who are away at school or have moved away to start careers and new families. We really missed you guys.

After dinner - awards, a speech by life member Mayor Hazel and then a slideshow tribute, put together by Tamas Sr, to the paddling careers of Tommy and Attila.

I was taking photos and had my back to the screen. I missed most of the slideshow but there were a lot of never-before-seen shots of the guys from when they were really young. Tommy (the emotional one) was pretty moved and not embarrassed to show it. The canoe club awarded them both lifetime memberships as thanks for their dedication, leadership and representation of the club over the years.

While I was snapping photos, I looked into the area around the bar and there were the alumni filtering in for the 50th party to follow. So many familiar faces showed up to celebrate the club.



Eric's band, Hair of the Dog, was playing and everyone was up dancing. Although I got to say a few words to everyone, I was running around taking photos thinking there'd be time later in the night to have a real conversation. It never happened. A lot of people were buying me drinks and at some point in the night I realized ...uh oh, one too many. I didn't say goodbye to anyone, just packed up my camera, jumped in a cab and went home. Apologies to those I missed in the picture taking. I never even made it to that area in front of the band. There were lots of cameras there though and we'll be able to put together albums with everyone there.

Junior Men's comeback crew of 2009 - believe it!