[or-roots] Reunions

[Beth Johnston]

---- Leslie Chapman <reedsportchapmans at verizon.net> wrote: 

[snip]

> One of the big reasons my family does that, AND we try to celebrate
> somebodies birthday every year with a big "drag as many of the cousins and
> nieces and nephews as possible party" is because otherwise we only see each
> other at funerals. And when you see folks 3 or four times a year THAT WAY
> you really have an incentive to have reunions and birthday parties.

I'm in the midst of my trip home from the 47th annual Gerking Family reunion, which was held last weekend in Walla Walla, WA. The reunion was begun for the reason Les mentions -- people were tired of seeing family only at funerals. The first reunions drew over 200 people each year, then attendance began to taper off. In the beginning a famiy would gather its members and host the reunions, but then it began to be harder and harder to find anyone willing to be host. The combination was almost a killer, but by holding our reunions at parks and making them potluck, we struggled along. 

Last year there were only 14 people at the no-host reunion held in a Portland restaurant, and we asked ourselves whether we should consider this a sign that it was time to quit, or if we should try to save the reunion so we could at least celebrate 50 continuous years. The small group decided unanimously that the reunions should go on, but that we had to figure out how to attract better attendance, as well as how to get more children and young people involved so that hopefully there will be people who want to carry on beyond the 50th anniversary. Attendance this year jumped to 71 officially signed in at the reunion and quite a few people without name tags, so we're guessing attendance was around 80. There was a good age mix of babies through teens through 89-year-olds, and the reunion was a blast.

What happened? We're not sure but are in the process of analyzing what made this one work so we can apply that to next year's no-host reunion and the future.

Beth