On Tuesday, July 1, the De Winton Community Association hosted its 43rd Annual Canada Day Breakfast. Last year we faced rain and cold and had to move the event indoors for the first time in years, but this year proved to be perfect. Not too cold, not too hot, and a beautiful breeze to ensure the day was just right.
Over the past 43 years the average attendance at our breakfasts has floated at around 400 to 450 people. Last year we were closer to the 400 in attendance who braved the weather to join us for breakfast. Our highest attendance was believed to be around 480.
With Canada Day falling on a Tuesday (and possibly recent changes in Canadian travel), we were anticipating somewhat higher attendance this year and planned food for roughly 500. Well, area residents came out in droves and smashed our record with close to 750 people showing up for 2025! Our volunteers also smashed it – handling the steady stream of people with grace and ease. Many stepped in to help as more and more arrived looking for a nice breakfast in a small country hamlet. Even as we ran out of ham, sausages, cream, butter, cutlery, cups, plates, and more, we made it work, eventually reducing our already really low price to serve up just pancakes until we were completely out.
The very talented Kay Pike was back as our face painter extraordinaire who kindly supplied all the product and made a lot of kids very happy leading a crew for our face painting, which is always immensely popular. We had lots of sporting activities for young and not as young people including spikeball, soccer, and cornhole. A few folks came out with their vintage cars and of course, support from our local fire station who always arrive to display their amazing fire trucks. Sadly, the trucks were unable to stay for long this year as they were called to duty not long after arriving.
Our ham, sausages, and pancakes were delicious. A heartfelt thanks goes out to Dave Metcalfe, who for many years has provided his large trailer grill to cook up hundreds and hundreds of pancakes. We seriously could not do this without Dave, and we truly appreciate his yearly contribution.
All our community events are run by volunteers. For the past 25 years, Trudy Vangilst and John Thorpe have led a large number of volunteers in planning and manning our breakfasts. They put in countless hours to put this special occasion on. Friends, family, and our fabulous community all pitch in to make it happen every year. This year was no exception.
We just have to give a shout out to our very special volunteers:
• Karen Jones and Engel and Pam Friesen who handled cooking hundreds of sausages
• John Morel who sliced our cooked hams until there were no more
• Sheila who was the ham slicer’s assistant and main dishwasher and cleaner
• Dave Metcalfe who ran the grill and cooked hundreds of pancakes
• Candice Peace (a new volunteer!) who jumped right in to help with set up, coffee and lemonade service, and was part of the cleanup crew. Her two daughters also stepped up as part of the face painting crew
• Mia Staysko, Shirle Ternan, and Sharon Papke who served up the ham and sausages
• Yoyo who’s speciality was being our pancake batter mixer
• Jamie Stasiak and Val Gribba who managed our new recycling station which was very well received
• Racim and Elly Gribba who helped on the soccer field and then managed the cup distribution along with lemonade and water set up
• Ruby (another new volunteer from stretch class) who helped with set up
• Anna Baretto and Linda Martin (Linda who just came for breakfast but got seconded) on table and BBQ supply runner
• Edith Rabinovitch and her two delightful granddaughters who managed our ticket sales and were the welcoming committee
• Nance (from our bi-weekly coffee group) who helped with coffee/juice/water serving and on cleanup
• Mel Ternan, the man in charge of making gallons and gallons of coffee. It was so good people just wanted more. The Ternan’s two grandchildren Kurt and Amber also helped with table and chair set up and take down.
• Councillor and board member Alan Alger, Mike Kozinec, Kathy and Randy Evans, Robb and Michele Waldner, Jim Vangilst, and our Facility Manger Matt Coveart who all lent a hand.
We know there were more volunteers and apologize if we missed your name. You have not been forgotten! We truly appreciate everyone who stepped up for us on Tuesday.
Finally, we also have to extend a huge thank you to the almost 800 people who came out to support us. Such wonderful people who were patient in the long lines, understanding as our food ran out, and were still appreciative for what we were putting together.
Our community is simply wonderful. Thank you so much!
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