45th Reunion
The 45th Reunion took place on September 18, 2021 from 4:00PM - 9:00PM at Picnic Area 2 at Hoyt Park.
Notes On the Event - Gene Hanson
Planning for the 45th reunion actually started in the final hour of the 40th reunion. After various classmates expressed interest to me
about doing another in just 5 years (and not having to wait 10), I had a brief conversation with Teri Adlam who told me she was all in. Teri had
done the hotel, food, and beverage arrangements. But it seems to be a given that reunions at the 5 year mark aren't as popular as those at the 10 year.
Since the most important thing for a successful reunion is attendance, I thought it would be good to utilize our extensive mailing list to
send a questionnaire / poll to the class to gear the enthusiasm (or lack therefore) to see what might be possible. I sent out the poll on March 6, 2020. which was just when
COVID-19 was starting to hit and little did I know it would throw everything into doubt. I certainly took it seriously, but was suffering from
the delusion it might only last a couple of months at most.
Questionnaire Results
There were a total of 73 classmates that responded. 4 of them were not in favor of any reunion.
Positive Responses: 69
Formal reunion: 29 (42%)
Informal: 40 (58%)
Though the reunion committee was in favor of throwing a full formal reunion, it didn't look there was enough support to justify all the work that goes with it. And in the end the COVID situation wouldn't have permitted it, anyway. But informal reunions are not very difficult to pull off so we can have them regardless of any special graduation anniversary. With the great improvement of the COVID-19 situation, I felt comfortable that an outdoor informal reunion could happen. Of course, there would be classmates that would feel differently, but that was their decision and we were not going to try talking them out of it! Here are the responses for popularity of venues.
Hoyt Park Picnic: 42
Hoyt Landing: 43
Tosa Fest: 37
Tosa East tour: 36
Pep's Place: 29
Boat Cruise: 20
Summerfest: 16
With those results the obvious choice was Hoyt Park in one of the picnic areas. Across the the footbridge to the pool area. This is the area that was used for the Sunday picnic during the 20th reunion. But the venue was even better because the entire pool was rebuilt and the facility was updated and now included a beer garden called The Landing.
Another poll was taken to see what date had the most support and it turned out to September 18th.
