There was a full parking lot and a packed crowd at the NOTL Community Centre on Monday as locals came out to celebrate the start of summer at the annual Strawberry Social.
The annual event, which has been going on for at least 30 years, is for seniors, honouring seniors. The Strawberry Social is meant to mark two events: The beginning of summer, when strawberries are traditionally ready for harvest, and Seniors Month, in June.
The centrepiece of the event is the lunch, where strawberries are thrown in salads and sandwiches, and where attendees could sit in circular tables of about six to eight people and enjoy the company along with the food.
“I’ve been coming since the beginning,” said Lucy Harder, one of the event attendees. “I love seeing people in the town coming together.”
The strawberries were provided by Seaway Farms, and the catering was done by PigOut Catering. The town also sent strawberry tarts to local retirement homes.
The event was also looked after by 32 volunteers who worked for the town, as well as members of their families, business owners and other community members who pitched in.
Numerous volunteers, including Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa, were wearing red shirts that said “We’re Berry Glad You’re Here.”
“There are a lot of hands that go into make it work,” said Lauren Kruitbosch, associate director at the office of the CAO.
Entertainment came from Frank Krahn, a longtime NOTL resident and Strawberry Social attendee who played piano during the event, and the school choir of St. Michael’s Catholic Elementary School in NOTL, who sang songs like “Do Re Mi” and “This Little Light of Mine.”
The event also included speeches from Krahn, Zalepa, Niagara Falls MPP Wayne Gates, regional councillor Andrea Kaiser and Sue Mingle, constituency assistant for MP Tony Baldinelli.
Krahn, Mingle, Kaiser and Zalepa used their speaking time to talk about the event, the meaningfulness of NOTL to its residents, its meaning for seniors in the town and what NOTL residents can do to be good people.
Krahn joked about how he aged relative to other people in the room that afternoon.
“When I first started doing this thing, I was the youngster,” said Krahn. “Now I’m the oldest one in the whole room.”
Gates used the occasion to talk about what kind of policy he hoped would help seniors in Niagara, including policy relating to free parking for seniors and caregivers.
“Caregivers that are still working in the province of Ontario deserve to be compensated,” said Gates.
But if there’s any person in the room who may have summed up what the day was about, it may have been Hedy Kopeschny, one of the event’s attendees. The coming together of people was the one thing that united people in the room. Kopeschny summed that feeling up.
“I like to see a bunch of friendly faces,” she said.
