Date:         Wed, 31 Jul 2024 11:04:10 -0400
Reply-To:     Eric Caron <ericcaron96@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Caron <ericcaron96@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      West River Westies Wrap Up
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

Hi listers,


I almost forgot to send this to the list.   In the past folks seemed to like getting it.

This is the Wrap up email I sent to WRW participants.

Our vW bus community is alive and well.

West River Westies Wrap Up 2024 

What great fun!

Our warmest thanks to Abby, Kate, Becky, and the folks at our cherished Bald Mountain Campground. 

People love to know the numbers from our campout event sign in.  
Here are the results. 

Note, numbers may not add up.  Things are just a bit loose at the WRW Board of Directors documentation division.
  

Camping bus groups 
112 

vanagons 69
bays 23
splitties 6
eurovans 4
thing 1, Was a visitor
Other vehicles 13

new participants 22

where were people from:
Canada 10
VT 18
NH 14
MA 31
NY 13
NJ 1
CT 13
ME 8
PA 2
RI 2
MI 1
FL 1

No buses came in on flat beds, but sadly at least two turned back with mechanical issues.

1 successful campground repair was noted, but likely there were a few others.

Raffle and Donation to Grace Cottage Critical Access Hospital:
Wow! Just, Wow! 
The raffle was full of items donated by participants, and our generous sponsors.

Jimmy D. Was the MC of, what must have been, the fastest raffle in West River history. 
And, wasn’t it great using names in the raffle?  Not only was it fast and fun, but we got to put faces to the names of many participants.  With 22 new buses that was a fun way to keep building our community.
        The result is that you folks raised the largest donation yet…
$2,930 
Our cumulative donation is now:
$24,503.00

2024 Sponsors 
Black Bear Music Festival, with VIP VW bus camping-Join Heidi and me and other VW friends for this event.
Bus Depot-Add a room hatch tent was very popular, and coupon was appreciated 
Busware,  VW truck tilts and more. Thanks to Tom Buese for support of the VW community, and the trucks in particular 
Greenvest,  Socially Responsible Investing (see Heidi or Eric for more info)
Go Westy,  VW Parts That metric tool set and the levelers were  hot tickets items!
SewFine,  Custom VW Interiors. The feel and look of the carpet set showed how to make your van feel new again. Lucky winner there!
Timothy Risk, Vanagon Washer bottle cradles. The windshield washer bottle cradle keeps your original reservoir working and protected. The best VW part you never knew you needed!
Uniwerks ,  3-D VW products
Chris was camping with us! I must have bored him to tears showing him all the UniWerks items on our vans.
Vanagain, VW Parts
Some lucky people won two of the 10 $50 gift certificates.  And, what a generous donation from one of our most respected VW vanagon and bus vendors.
VanAlert, VW Bus Travel Support & Alert app
Wolfsburg West,  A great source of hard to find parts, especially air cooled. 
R.I.P. Wall-E donor van:  Thank you Tim Hille and Wall-E for keeping so many other vans on the road and for your generous donation to Grace Cottage Hospital from the sale of Wall-E’s parts.

West River Participants rocked the raffle with great bus and camping and related donations.
There were so many nice and useful items  from wine and jelly baskets, to a full curtain set.  From the Jerry Garcia doll to the soft Bus Depot cooler full of treats and the 3-D dragon kite and cool stuff for kids. There were so many generous donations.  You folks are amazing!

The Potluck returned and it was great!
Finally, it was back, and you folks brought outstanding food to share.  Also, thanks to those that labeled dishes that were vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and more.
I’ve seen many requests for the recipe for the seitan ribs.  They were amazing. 

As I sat among you at the potluck, I heard so many voices, laughter, and bits of stories.  I remembered why it is so important and healthy for people to be together and enjoy a beautiful place, good company, and simple things.

Special recognitions: 
Lynn who gifted to the community her beautiful West River Westies Christmas ornaments.
Alex Denette brought his trailer and transported folks and tubes anywhere they needed to go.
The Director of Mischief kept many cool with his high powered squirt gun. 
Dennis Haynes kindly sent fire wood to several fire circles. 
Paul did magic tricks, balloon animals, juggling, and more for kids he met.
The family corner, shared storytelling and family music.
Natasha’s violin brought beautiful sounds to the evenings, along with many other musicians There were so many generous, humorous, kind, and thoughtful things happening all around us. 
I can’t list them all but we recognize and applaud this community.

Heidi, keeps the campout event together during the event.  She was supported by too many volunteers to name.  But if you manned the welcome area table, helped with the potluck, was a raffle runner during the event etc. please know we couldn’t do it without you and are so grateful for your help!  We had more volunteers this year, spreading the fun and we greatly appreciate you all.

Weather and Tubing 
The weather was…perfect!
The tubing was… Perfect!
OK, last year it took 25 minutes to white water from covered bridge to the campground.  This year it took an hour to drift from one side of the campground to the other.  But, it was all great!  And next year will be perfect as long as we can share it together.