I Started My New Year at the Levee
While a lot of people think that New Years is about the party on New Years Eve, mine has always been about the Levee on New Years Day. I wrote about how the levee came to be the other day. Today I’m going to share about this year’s Levee.
Our Levee Starts at 11am, that has been the traditional local start time for as long as I can remember. Other places chose a different start time. It doesn’t really matter, as long as we show up.
These gents are two of the members of the executive. It is expected that the executive in particular will be in Legion uniform at an event like this. Any member who has a uniform should also wear theirs.
The three of us formed the greeting line at the door as people arrived, wishing them a Happy New Year. We act as hosts particularly for people who may be new to a Levee by letting them know what is where. We take great pride in being a welcoming branch.
We’re linked with the Air Force 429 Squadron from CFB Trenton. Several of their members arrived to take part at the levee. Some of those in attendance were new, the others we’ve seen several times. We always enjoy the company of our friends in the military.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor along with one of the three councillors were also in attendance, meeting and greeting people. Several members of the local Canada 150 Committee were on hand as the committee funded this years Levee as a kickoff to Canada’s 150th locally.
The Zone Commander and Deputy Zone Commander arrived for about thirty minutes early on. The Zone is the next level of command in the Legion. Their group had nine other Legions to visit so they couldn’t spend very long at each one. We were the second branch for them to arrive at.
The Levee is open for all age groups. The lady with her back to us is a veteran member and the young lady beside her is her daughter. I learned her daughter is a very good artist who loves drawing cats.
Now, as you know, I’m a sucker for someone who likes cats. I chatted with her for a bit and shared that my youngest cat was from a litter her grandparent’s cat had. Before she left, she gave me a gift of one of her cat drawings.
So What Do We Do at the Levee?
There are some formalities, like the receiving line and a draw for a free branch membership from the names of those who paid their dues early. The winner of the draw gets their 2018 dues paid for by the branch.
We had a musician in who played all afternoon. People really loved the variety of music she played. Some danced, some enjoyed having the music in the background so they could visit with their friends and neighbours.
Oops! I got my finger in that picture. The two members in uniform are two more members of my executive. They are selling tickets for meat draws and a 50/50 draw. At 1pm, 2pm and 3pm we drew from the tickets sold for that hour and the winner chose a package of meat or a gift card. There were three draws each hour. After the 3pm draw we drew the 50/50 and the winner received 50% of the ticket sales.
There was another moment of formality when two Rotarians arrived to present me with a cheque for our Community Services account. That is the account we use to support the local food bank and do the Christmas Hamper program from. Rotary donated the proceeds from their annual Golf Tournament to the fund, the cheque was for over $2300. What a great boost to the account.
What About Refreshments?
Well, yeah, what’s a party without food and drink? We had a table with bottles of wine that anyone, of legal age, could help themselves to. There was also alcohol free punch and coffee available.
Of course, the bar was open and our volunteer bar steward doing her usual great job.
The caterer made sure that we didn’t run out of food and refreshments. OH, last but not least, we had food, lots of delicious food.
One lady, who had never attended a Levee before, sought me out to tell me “this is amazing”. She’s going to be attending in the future.
A great afternoon was had by all. Now we can get on to the New Year and the adventures we have to come.
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Thanks for sharing. These kind of things always remind me of my late grandfather! Happy New Year:)
ummm that's an interesting observation. Is that because it is an 'old folks thing' to you?LOL
or was he a Legion person too?
I used to go to a lot of these army things with him when I was a little kid and I was visiting:)
A Levee has a military connection but is very much a social event. The Legion exists because of it's military connections in support of our veterans but support of the community is also important because that is where our veterans live when they leave the military.
Like it .. Good post