Dick reported:
Well another Gen-Fest is in the history books and it might have been the
best one yet..
We had a total of 33 enthusiastic participants. All of Gen's living descendants were in attendance except for cousin Molly who is in summer school at the University of Hawaii, and my eldest brother's two kids who are estranged for reasons that are not totally clear to me. I sent them
invitations with hand written notes that we missed seeing them but did not
receive a response.
Cousin Kevin had the most adventurous trip. He was attempting to fly in
from Phoenix through Detroit on North Worst but the flight to TC was
cancelled. He teamed up with others from the flight to rent a van and drive
up. He got here about 5 a.m.. One reason he made such an effort was to
announce his engagement to Amy. That gave us an excuse to break out the
Champagne and the wine glasses. The wedding will be in San Diego so Tom can
look forward to some house guests.
My day started at midnight sitting beside Dylan on the curb by the side of
Front Street in downtown Traverse City. We were waiting for the new Harry
Potter book to go on sale. Laurie stood in line while we waited outside.
We were certainly not lonely. Hundreds of people had joined us for the
festivities which started at 10:00 p.m. There was a scavenger hunt involving
quite a few of the downtown stores as well as numerous characters from the
books. Many of our fellow Potter fans were fully costumed although we were
not. It was a fun time but after a full morning of work at the Visitor
Center and an afternoon of pre party set up at home, I was bushed. The
fatigue bug had bitten Dylan as well and we decided to wait in the car. By
the time his Mommy got back with the books he was fast asleep. It was after
1 a.m. when we got back to the house.
I was up and at'em a little after 6 a.m. and discovered that I was nearly out
of charcoal for the grill. I had a trip into town scheduled anyway because
we had a video camera reserved for rental at the local camera shop.
Each year we try to have some unique and fun event that can involve all
ages at our Gen-Fests. For example, last year was competitive Geocaching
and the year before was a Rubber Duck race. So while the rest of the
inhouse crew, (6), ate breakfast, showered and dressed, I loaded up the car
with recycling and ran my errands.
All went well until I reached the camera shop. It turned out that they
didn't open 'till 10, I wandered the street for 15 minutes and then came
back at just after 10 and they were still closed. It turned out that little
Cindy, she with the nose stud, had also been out late the night before and,
as a result, was 15 minutes late for work.
I was in the door to collect the camera as soon as she opened. She went
into the back room and returned quickly with camera bag, attached to which
was a note with my name on it. She opened it to determine that it's
contents were correct and discovered that it did not contain a camera. She
made a phone call and informed me that Bob would be there in a few minutes
to take care of me. "A few?" "Well 15 to 20 or so".
I wandered off down the street to get a coffee. When Bob got there he
looked and indicated that the camera was missing and its location was
unknown but he told me that they would rent me their (his) in-house camera.
Unfortunately, he was out of the type of cartridge that it required. To get
me in business, he put in the tape of his kid's Physics project and told me
to "Just tape over it". After a quick tutorial, I was on my way.
By the time I got home, the troops had begun to arrive. I started the
grills and worked as greeter until 11:30 when it was time to assign groups
for the First Basswood Bend Film Festival. Their task was to create and
film a movie of at least 5 minutes length in a set genre in which they
utilized a couple of required props. After a short time to gather and
select a director, they picked their genre, Sci-Fi, mystery, adventure,
horror and fantasy were chosen. Then they picked their central prop. They
could choose from; a flag of New Brunswick, a fire extinguisher, a piggy
bank, a picnic basket or pom poms. Finally, they were presented with a
required prop, a large dill pickle and given about 2 hours to eat lunch and
plan their film.
Filming began at 2:30 and every one became quite involved, even those who
approached the concept with some trepidations. In our film, an adventure
saga titled Minnesota Smith and the Basswood Bend Booty" our stars were
reliving Gen Fests past and attempting to discover the plan for next year's
gathering. My roles were as "Indigenous Basswood Bend Native", a war
painted rock throwing thug, and "Evil Uncle Dick", a black clad villain
determined to protect the secret of Gen Fest 06 from our heroes. Cousin
Shelly was awarded the "Genevieve" for "Best Actress" for her performance
as "Drunken Shelly" while Cousin Derek won for "Best Costume". The
interspersed glimpses of a physics lecture between some of the gripping
scenes added greatly to the humor of the project.
In her film, "The Attack of the Slimy, Mutant, Green-Eyed Pickle People
Eater", Nancy played herself as "Dead Aunt Nan" who had been attacked by a
genetically altered version of the required prop, "She's been pickled!" It
won for "Best Film" and Laurie won "Best Director" and tied with Jana for
"Best Cinematographer". Cousin (Dr.) Kevin won for "Best Actor" for his
portrayal of a Doctor. (Type casting?)
Jana filmed and directed an effort that co-starred Dylan with cousin JP as
boy detectives attempting to determine what "Evil Uncle Doug" (see a
pattern here?) had done to the piggy bank. It was a 10/11 vote but Dylan
won the Genevieve for "Best Boy Actor". JP was "Most Enthusiastic".
In another film, Tom was an evil scientist who was creating an army of
Frankenpickles who were attacking and killing picnickers. Chip won for Best
Make Up as the catsup splashed victim of the killer pickle.
The cutest film stared four of the little girls in the under under five set
driving around town looking for pickles. They even got a park Ranger to
respond "No pickles here!" They each won a Genievieve.
Following the viewing and the awards presentation, more food was eaten and
the traditional Gen-Fest recreational activities took place. While some
canoed or tubed, and a valiant group of the moms performed what always
seems to be near permanent KP, others began the volley ball game. It seemed
to be less spirited than past years, partly a function of the lateness of
the day and the heat and humidity but mostly, I fear, the continuous
encroachment of age.
As dusk approached, the campfire was started and those with distance to
travel said their good byes. After an obligatory visit to the campfire and
volleyball observation, the most senior members of the clan blearily sat
and chatted awhile until finally giving in to fatigue and age we waved
farewell and drifted off to bed.
It is reported that the campfire crowd continued to socialize until after 2
but that too was tamer than some past years and there was no evidence of
Molson's ailment in the crew this morning.
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