Year 19.
It hardly seems possible, but we are about to host The Family Ball Tournament for the 19th time.
The dates are Friday, August 7 and Saturday August 8th this year.
We had our first planning meeting on June 23 and here are the details thus far:
City Site Rental & Other City Info: will be $1214 this year including liability insurance. Balance is due July 26. Each year, we need to notify the City Clerk, the health department, the police department, the fire department and the building department that we are having an outdoor event. We need to have running water and a handwash unit for the staff. We will be renting the inside washrooms again this year. Job Jar: City Liaison: (Tracey & Marty)
Charities:
Our major charity this year is the Elizabeth Bruyere Hospital Foundation. We are donating the majority of our proceeds to this wonderful organization this year, in memory of Eleanor Thompson.
Their mission statement:
Bruyère Foundation inspires the community to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable in our society through philanthropy and the stewardship of funds, guided by the mission and values of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa and by the core values of justice, respect, compassion, community spirit and learning.
We are proud to be working with the Foundation this year for an organization that is so close to the hearts of two of our Executive Committee members, Vince and Mick Thompson, and their family. Job Jar: Bruyere Liaison: (Tracey)
We will also be donating to at least two smaller charities this year: the Township of Osgoode Care Centre and the Osgoode Youth Association. The Care Centre will be manning our barbecue Saturday and O-YA will be staffing our kids’ corner on Saturday this year, each in exchange for a donation. Job jar: Care Centre liaison (Sharron Dewan); O-YA liaison (Marty).
Teams:
Confirmed teams: Blanchfield, Bracken, Brogan, Chambers, Churchill, Clingin, B. Dewan, W. Dewan, Downey, Holmes, Kelly, McEvoy, Moloughney, Quinn, Rowan, Thompson. (Brophy family is out for this year … the Holmes family was one of the original families in the Family Ball Tournament … welcome back, almost a generation later!)
Entertainment:
Friday night will be karaoke with the Thompsons (bring your courage and your best singing voice!), and Saturday night we have The Two Paddys (Kelly and Maher!) coming out to sing the best Celtic tunes so we can dance the night away.
Food:
We will be getting the food order from Osgoode Foodland again this year. We will get the order to Andy as soon as possible. We will get the barbecue items, pop, water and other miscellaneous items.
We will have sandwiches for Friday night and over the weekend as well. We will have the barbecue Saturday from 11 to 7. We are also going to have hot pulled pork sandwiches late Saturday night, for those who fancy a snack after the band starts to play. We have previously had the barbecue meat donated, but we will need to purchase it this year (unless someone has a contact they can get donations from).
Job jar: Foodland liaison (Phil); Sandwiches (Fri – Bracken; Sat – open); Pulled Pork & Buns (Tony D’Aviero).
Other Food:
Christine will try to get the chips and pop donated from the Humpty Dumpty rep and the Coca Cola rep in Metcalfe, as she did last year.
Coffee & Donuts: We have coffee Friday and Saturday nights, as well as on Saturday morning. Sharron Dewan is picking up a Tim Hortons coffee kit for Saturday morning, so finally those who play the 8 a.m. game will have something to look forward to! Tooti will be bringing us our annual fix of Timmys donuts Saturday morning as well. Job jar: Coffee (Sharron Dewan); Tim Hortons Donuts (Tooti).
Bar:
This year we are going back to buying our beer from the Beer Store in Manotick – Marty will work with Mike Brophy to get a contact there so when we pick up the beer it is cold. We are also switching to tall boy cans for faster cooling and better cost (we will be using the troughs and ice again this year for beer). We will be getting some recycle bins to place around the beer tent so that we can recover the returnable cans. We will get our liquor from the Manotick Liquor Store as well. Job Jar: Beer Store (Marty); Liquor Store (Tracey)
Paul has been in contact with Martin Ballard, our local beer company rep, for prizes. Anyone else with prizes should contact Paul as well.
Kids’ Corner:
Look for something special in the kids’ corner this year, in addition to the regular colouring, face paint, balloons and candy.
Prizing:
Each team is to bring a prize valued at $20-$25 for the team MVP draw. Each team will win one prize for their MVP. Job Jar: (prize coordination: Ellen).
Extra Revenue:
We will have the regular 50/50 draw as well as some raffle items. Mary will coordinate this for us again this year. We may have a silent auction this year, as well as a new fundraising item that is to be announced once details are worked out. We will seek out advertising from Daley Family Funeral Home and Riverside South Mini Storage again this year.
See the job jar page for the complete list of things that we need help with.
If you know someone who can donate anything at all, please get in contact with one of the committee members. If you are able to take care of any of the ‘job jar’ items, please be sure to get in touch with us as well. We will be assigning each job to a family soon enough (and many more little jobs along the way), so don’t be afraid to speak up if there is something you want to help with.
HOME RUN DERBY
We are having a new fundraising and fun idea this year coordinated by Christine Rowan.
We will host a Home Run Derby on Saturday night at 7:15 p.m. sharp, right before the final games.
There will be 20 spots available to enter – the entry fee is $10. There is one spot available for each team to enter someone in the derby, plus four extra spots. If a family does not want to enter someone, then their spot will be up for grabs. We will take sign ups until Saturday at 4 p.m. If there are more registrants than open spots, we will draw for the ‘non-family’ spots.
Each home run derby contestant will get 5 pitches from their own pitcher. The winner will be determined by number of home run hits, and if there is a tie, the winner will be the one who hit the farthest. The winner of the derby will get their name on a new trophy, and will get bragging rights for the year.
The fine print: We have allowed only a half hour for the home run derby, so it will have to begin promptly at 7:15 and anyone who is involved will need to be on time or they will forfeit their spot. Fee must be paid prior to 7 p.m. There will be no warmup pitches on the field, so be sure to practice with your pitcher before the derby.
Looking forward to an exciting new event!
Thanks … we’ll be in touch soon!