Fleming planning reunion for 2022
August 5-7, 2022 set for reunion
August 12, 2021, 9:17 am
Kevin Weedmark
The community of Fleming is starting to prepare for a massive reunion in the summer of 2022.
The reunion is open to anyone to attend, and will be held August 5-7, 2022.
The reunion will bring old friends together to share their stories and visit, and the weekend will include entertainment, beer gardens, supper and a dance, activities for kids, a ball game or two, a parade, a church service, a pancake breakfast and more.
The organizers believe that this is a good time to be planning a reunion.
“I think it’s important for older people to get together and share their stories, and for younger people whose parents lived in Fleming, and for the people who did live in the town who want to come back and see the town and their old friends again,” said Chelsey Hattum, a member of the organizing committee. “Sometimes people need and excuse or a reason, they don’t just think ‘let’s go to Fleming and see what it’s all about.’ This is a reason for them to come back and to talk to all the people that used to live there, all the people that heard stories about there and maybe meet some of the people they’ve heard stories about. Kids, grandparents, this is for everyone.
“I want to help put this on for people it matters to, because I live there and I love Fleming and I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“When Phil (Hamm) first told me about this reunion, he mentioned it and I said that’s nice,” said Ted Frape. “On the way home my wife mentioned, you know, Phillip wouldn’t have said anything if he wasn’t looking for a little assistance. My wife said, if your mother and dad were still here, they’d be in there helping, so I’m here doing what I can do to help, I guess I was talked into it!
“It’s always great to have everyone together. I know we had a lot of people back in Fleming in the Jubilee year, 1955, and we had a big parade, and we want to do a big parade for this one.
“It’ll just be nice for everyone together, and for some of the older folks this might be the chance to see everyone one more time.”
“It’s important to me just because it’s my home town and I love the place, I love the people,” says Phil Hamm. “Well most of them, there’s a couple of them that I don’t,” he adds with a laugh.
“A lot of people who have moved away have a lot of good memories and I’d like to see those folks again.
“I’m really looking forward to sitting down with some of these people and reminiscing and having fun. You can be here today and gone tomorrow and it doesn’t matter what age you are. So if you’re going to have it, why wait for something and then say, oh shoot we could have had this one and that one and maybe a couple of them could have been there, but we waited and now it’s too late for them.
“I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s going to be good. Really, really good. It’s the people and the visiting. We’re going to have the parade and we’re going to have a ball game or two and we’re going to have all this stuff, but the important thing is the visiting and talking to people you maybe haven’t talked to for a while.
“I’m looking forward to this. That’s what it’s all about and this is why this time around, last time I have a couple regrets, I didn’t take the time, I was too busy with running things. I didn’t take the time to enjoy it. This time I’m going to make sure I enjoy it, too.”
The reunion won’t be a fundraiser, but organizers hope to break even.
“We just want to cover our costs,” says Hamm. “We’re not looking to make money off of it or anything like that. We just want to have a good time, show people a good time.”
People can pre-register for the reunion so that organizers have an idea of how many people to plan for.
People can pre-register by checking out the Fleming Community page on facebook, which has the reunion as an event. To register, find out more, or enter the parade, people can contact Chelsea Hattum at 306-434-6833 or Phil Hamm at 306-435-4140.
“That is something really key, for people to let us know if they’re planning to come,” said Hattum.
“It’d be a big help to us if people pre-register, that’s really important.
“In the event you can click ‘going’ or ‘interested.’ I know not everybody has Facebook or one person might be going and they have two kids and a husband or wife. So I will take that number and estimate the total so we can give the caterers the range we’re expecting.”
There will also be a costume contest on the Saturday of the reunion, for which people are asked to dress for a particular decade from the 1920s to the 1970s, and parade entries can be in that theme as well.
Old photos of Fleming wanted
The committee is also looking for old photos of Fleming, both for a calendar, and to have on display at Fleming’s community coffee hall.
“We’ve got more pictures than we’ve got room to put on the walls of the coffee shop,” says Hamm.
“There are a lot of pictures of the elevator and different buildings in town, and organizations and people, but we thought we’d do the walls of the community hall. They can be pictures of sports teams and pictures of businesses and whatever. We’d like to also get this put together, electronically saved somehow so people have access to it, and do up a calendar, too.”
“I have a photo section on the Fleming Community page,” adds Hattum. “People can bring me pictures and I’ll scan them and put them up. Or they can email them or put them on there themselves.”
Organizations, caterers to handle meals
The reunion organizers are looking for a few volunteers for some small jobs like staffing the registration desk, but in order to make sure as many Fleming residents as possible can fully take part in the reunion events and are not tied up with volunteer duties, organizers are hopeful that organizations and caterers can take on the meals over the course of the weekend.
“We have some very small volunteer jobs that we need people for, over short periods of time so you’re not tying people up with that,” said Hamm. “And even when people come in and volunteer, they’ll have a little bit of a visit. If they’re working the registration desk they can have a little visit with whoever is registering as well.
“We’re hoping the meals and the pancake breakfast can be taken care of by the Firemen or 4-H groups or youth groups or any groups that are interested.”
Anyone interested in donating to help get the reunion off the ground can text or email Chelsey Hattum at 306-434-6833 or email chelsey.hattum@gmail.com noting the funds are for the Fleming Reunion or can drop cheques off at OK Tire in Moosomin made out to the Fleming Community Organization.
Big crowd expected
Organizers are expecting large crowds for the reunion. They say previous reunions have been well attended and they expect this one to draw an especially large crowd.
“There haven’t been as many chances for people to get out, and I know people are really taking advantage of every opportunity right now because they’re so hungry for things to do, but some people are still worried about Covid,” said Hamm.
“I think it will be calmer next year with all the Covid stuff and people will feel more comfortable. I think we’ll have lots of people come down for it, and that’s good because the more we get the more fun it will be for everyone.” Tweet
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