Giving thanks to all those who helped with Harvest!
Fall is here, the cool weather is setting in, and Thanksgiving is now behind us. It’s a great time to have a look back at Harvest 2018 and send a big thank you out to all of the fantastic volunteers and sponsors who helped make Harvest a great success this year.
Harvest celebrated its fourteenth year, and what a celebration it was. It all started on the Friday night with the continued support of Jeremy Moore and SteamWhistle providing some refreshing brews. The glow game had no official score reported, but based on the laughter and cheers, it seemed everyone was a winner!
Saturday was sunny and hot and the level of play seemed to elevate with the temperature. A big thanks to Roam (Isaiah Kightley) for keeping people energized and cool with ice coffee and lemonade. After a long day of extremely fun and competitive Ultimate, there were numerous ties that needed to be broken with an MTA competition. Big shout out to PUL president George Kovacs for overseeing the MTA competition. The overall winner, with a time of 7.78, was Candy Shop. With the rankings complete it was time to eat, drink, and be merry. And so we did! A big thank you to our soup makers (Stephanie Wood, John Desbiens, Caitlyn Howe, and the culinary arts program at Kenner Colligate) who out did themselves, as there wasn’t a drop left of their delicious creations. Another huge thank you to C’est Chaud (Night Kitchen) for their generous support, and hard work, in supplying delicious artisan pizzas for all the teams. As if that wasn’t enough to fill a day, thanks to John Desbiens, we had the perfect place to party the night away! The Naval Association was the venue, and with PUL’s very own Jared Lucas on the wheels of steel making the dance floor bounce and over a dozen horseshoe pits, there was plenty of fun to be had!
Sunday morning came early, but thankfully members from The Electric City Special Needs Hockey Organization were there serving a delicious pancake breakfast, helping everyone soak up their overindulgence from the previous night. Thanks to the generous contributions from the Harvest players, we were able to again sponsor a player for a full season of play. The competition, weather, and great spirit was making Championship Sunday another perfect day of Ultimate. The Braggarts bushel winner was decided by a hard fought game between Skwash and Candy Shop. In the end, Candy Shop was victorious and took home the delicious produce.
Jive Turkey, new to Harvest this year, earned a spot in the finals against a team that is becoming an annual powerhouse at Harvest, BUS. Both teams were dominant through Saturday and Sunday and both battled hard in the finals. Jive Turkey played a great game, however BUS successfully completed their goal of back to back championships. Congratulations to both for a great tournament. Another big thank you to Richard Haight, George Kovacs, Stephanie Wood, and Rachel Robichaud for observing the final game.
Saturday’s spirit winners were Top Gunned, winning a prize generously provided by SteamWhistle and treats made by Cara and Aaron Rutter. Sunday spirit winners were Dump Truck, winning a couple of cases of That Dam Tea, generously provided by Tyler Steeves and some more sweet treats from the Rutters. A big thank you to the teams and sponsors for keeping the spirit of the game a focus of Harvest.
Thanks to Adrienne Padget for another stellar disc design and Myles at Renegade Apparel for helping us outfit our volunteers and tournament champions.
Last, but definitely not least, we’d like to give a big shout out and thank you to our field volunteers. Harvest is often referred to as the premier tournament of the year. We agree, and it has that reputation because of the selfless volunteers who spend such long days and nights helping the tournament run so smoothly. If you see any of the people mentioned in this post, give them a high five, buy them a drink, or just say thanks….they deserve it! Huge thanks to Chloe Corbeil, Isaac Desbiens, Corey Duff, Dana Elliott, Paul Forwell, Caitlyn Howe, Jen Kazda, Solly Kightley, Darryl LaPlante, Tara MacLeod, Marj McDonald, Brandie Mocha, Sam Morris, Tanya Rizza, Cam Taylor, Fin Taylor, and Deanna Vandenbroek.
Here`s to another great Harvest in the books.