My daughter Lynn turns 37 on July 12th which means that Cherry Fest in Blenheim will be just a few days away. What that also means is thirty seven years ago I took my Kodak Instamatic camera (the one with the cube light bulb that turned a quarter turn each time you used it) and took the first pictures of my baby girl. I was excited to get the pictures developed and back then Gervason’s in Blenheim that was one of the first places in the area that had next day picture developing so I brought my film there for processing. I told Gail that I had a surprise for her and we drove to Blenheim…looking back she probably thought that I was going to buy her a new ring or something because when I got back to the car with the developed pictures she looked at me kind of funny. Well, I was excited anyways and it has been a wonderful 37 years being a dad and a grandfather (we are expecting our third grandchild in February! Yay!)
I remember coming to the “sidewalk sales” in Blenheim as a kid and getting some new shorts for my week at camp. One time I got these shorts that were baby blue pin stripes and the shirt matched. I also got a white belt and North Star running shoes…I was so ahead of my time! I don’t remember so much the rides, but our mission would have been camp clothes anyways so it may or may not have been different back then.
In the past few years since I have been the Chair of the Blenheim BIA, I’ve been able to see the huge amount of work that goes into Cherry Fest. A huge thank you goes out to all of the people who make the event what it is…especially Pete Laurie, Nancy Horak and JP Huggins to name a few. On top of that, there are a lot of other people who help make Cherry Fest what it is. I’m sure that everyone at Trinity Anglican Church has been busy making and baking pies. Hopefully the weather holds out this year and everybody has a good time!
Until next week,
Marc
