2019 DePue Reunion

[racingfan1]

I'd like to thank everyone who attended this year's reunion and being flexible as our plans changed. Although our numbers were few the laughs were many.

A few takeaways from Friday night, 1) with all the Quincy guys in the house it was like being back at 5th and State, thanks for sharing some of the stories. The one thing most agreed on was if something was to be welded Gene East was the man 2) I was glad Pete and Sandy Nydahl enjoyed the 12 pack of Hamm's beer I bought for the occasion, they said it was Ray's favorite. 3) when Bruce Summers gets hungry the food best be there, LOL and 4) old boat racing stories are the best.

So a couple of awards to give out, well you don't get anything but nonetheless, 1) the Longevity Award has to go to the table with Bruce & Shirley Summers and Ralph & Shirley Donald as they started the day early and stayed to the very end and just about drank us out of wine. and 2) the Funniest Award had to go to the table with Craig Lawrence, Denny Henderson, Hox Compton, Mike Schmidt, and Skip Birbarie, I could have stayed there all night and listened to the stories. One thing I learned is the innocent Alan Ishi, perhaps not so innocent?? LOL

Special thanks yous' to
1-Shirley Summers for donating the quilt that was raffled off.

2- Craig Lawerence for letting us take a spin in the 88 and being humbled if we thought we could drive.

3- John Winzler for your support and words of wisdom

4- My wife Becki for helping in many ways and putting up with me the last few weeks before the reunion as the plans changed and daughter Lindsey for again helping that night.

5- And to John Schubert for allowing me to take his ball and run with it. Hopefully, someday, I can match what you did in 2007, still, the standard to judge all others by.

So this ends the 2019 DePue Reunion. As always, if you have any suggestions as to how to make this a better event don't hesitate to send me an email. 1daledog1@gmail.com. And I look forward to seeing you at the next DePue Reunion in 202???????

Dale

[racingfan1]

If you are coming to the Racer Reunion in DePue on Friday night at the VFW we will have a limited numberof these commemorative20oz RTICtravel tumblers. First come first serve $20

[racingfan1]

Here are a couple of pictures of the quilt that Shirley Summers has made and we will be raffling it off at the reunion.

[racingfan1]

As of today, June 23nd, we only have 29 people who have registered for this year's event. After careful consideration and number crunching, we can not move forward with the reunion as currently constructed. However, John and I feel strongly that there is enough interest to move forward with some type of reunion event.

We will not be doing the formal evening dinner as we have done in the past. As we stated earlier, we are not able to use the entire VFW building in DePue, but we found out that we are allowed to use the front bar area as the EPA is not using that part of the building. This area will be used as our reunion headquarters all day on Friday and Saturday. You will be able to come and go as you please. Inside the VFW will be pictures, videos, and other racing memorabilia. There will be drinks available along with light snacks. At the end of racing on Friday, we will be having pizza delivered and guests will be allowed to stay as long as you like.

We understand that this is quite a departure from the original format, but we hope that you will be satisfied with our new plan. Those that are already registered have the following two options: 1) still be part of the festivities and all the above will be covered by your registration fee as well as your reunion shirt orders, with no additional cost to you. or 2) choose not to come and have your check returned to you.

For the people who have not registered, there is still time to do so. Just fill out the registration form and mail it in. We will accept them up to July 2nd or there is going to be a cover charge of $10 that day, to cover drinks and food, to get inside the VFW and be part of the reunion. We will be ordering extra shirts and they will be available in case someone would like to purchase them that day. Shirley Summers has made a quilt from racing t-shirts and we will be raffling that off, Bruce will be bringing his hydro and 6 cylinder motor to display as well, and also have a 50\50 drawing.

John and I hope you still will come to DePue and be part of this year's event. As we all know, life is short and you never know when or if you will see your racing friends again. Even in a scaled down form, this reunion is meant to bring us all together and give us the chance to reminisce and enjoy the company of life long friends. We really hope you will join us and be part of the 2019 DePue reunion.


John Schubert and Dale Hoffert

[racingfan1]

The plans are changing for the reunion this year. Due to the low number of people registering we will be doing something a little different. For those of you that have registered, I will be in contact with you via email to let you know what the options are and for everyone else we will post the information here as soon as possible.

I had put this video together to show at the dinner and just thought I would share it with you. It is the reason we continue to do these reunions because, well, you just never know when the last goodbye will come.

Click on the link below to watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQ5...ature=youtu.be

[John Schubert]

To everyone, as of today there is not enough registrants to move forward with the reunion. I know many of you have indicated that you were going to attend, but still haven’t registered. At the last reunion, several of you suggested not waiting 4 or 5 years for the next event, for as you know, our numbers are shrinking. If we do not receive a significant amount of registrations by the end of this month, we will be compelled to cancel the event. So COME ON everyone, a lot of work has gone in to planning this event, and much more to come for your enjoyment, fun & to reminisce about the good old days.

I have heard comments that because the event is scheduled in Princeton, some have a concern. My 2 cents: first, the USTS National Championship banquet is also scheduled to be held the next evening at the Days Inn conference/banquet room. So a lot of you will be going there on Sat. night anyway. Previous postings on Boat Racing Facts & Hydroracer mentioned this & the reason we can’t have the gathering at The American Legion as it has been rented/leased to those doing environmental studies of the lake. My next 2 cents is that I have stayed several years now at the Days Inn in Princeton. I find it is easier to get to then Peru. You just take the west exit out of Depue, cross over highway 29 & go to US highway 6, turn left go a couple of miles to I 380 or whatever it is, go west one exit & get off turn left & the hotel is right on your right.

So, let’s stop procrastinating, you want to be there so please register.

John & Dale Hoffert

[racingfan1]

Just a reminder , if you are thinking about attending the 2019 DePue reunion please think about getting you registration mailed out. Shirts and the caterer have to have numbers by the end of June. Thank you and see you in DePue.

[racingfan1]

While LaSalle-Peru is the normal home base for most racers and fans Princeton has a lot to offer. Most things Princeton can be found at princechamber-il.com. However I thought I would add a little to that. Princeton is known for their downtown Main St business districts full of small shops and boutiques. It is one of the few towns that has resisted the chain stores. When looking for places to eat I put together the following list of the better places in Princeton.

Breakfast

Big Apple Family Restaurant - 2136 N. Main St. located within walking distance of the Days Inn

Coffee Cup Diner - located on Main St at the railroad crossing

Flour House Bakery & Coffee - 950 N Main St fresh baked breakfast items and specialty coffees , popular Princeton spot

Lunch and Dinner

Kramers Kitchen - 421 S Main St - homemade specialty sandwiches and all very good - lunch only kramers-kitchen.com

Spoons - 541 S Main St - spoonsrestaurant.net

Niel and Shortys - 646 S Main St - the local bar-b-que joint - nielandshortys.com

The Prime Quater - 250 Backbone Rd East - cook your own steak house or have them do it for you primequarter.com

Los Ranchitos - 1204 W Peru St the local mexican place

Pizza Cellar - 402 S Main St - a local favorite for pizza - not the usual pizza

Alexander Park Tavern - 815 Park Ave West - need your fried chicken fix , this is the place

There are other places on the chamber website but these are the some of the more popular spots.

[racingfan1]

Registrations are starting to come in for the reunion. Here is the list and I will update it as I receive them. Updated 5\17\19

Birbarie , Skip
Dewald , Craig
Donald , Ralph
East , Gene
Forester , Wild Bill
Franck , Joe
Henderson , Denny
Hoffert , Dale
Ingalls , Craig & Nick
Ishi , Alan
Kalman , Sharon
Laatsch , Jett Winzeler
Laatsch , Laura Winzeler
Lawerence , Craig
Neadeck , Art
Nydahl , Pete & Kelly
O'Dea , Dick
Rodda , Ray
Schmidt , Eric
Schimdt , Mike
Schoch , Jim
Schubert , John
Summers , Bruce and Shirley
Van Steenwyk , Eileen & Netta Marshall
Willing , Don
Winzeler , John

[racingfan1]

Here is the pdf. file of the registration form to download and print.

[racingfan1]

2019 Reunion Registration

The registration is now open for the 2019 DePue reunion. Attached to this message is the registration form and also the shirt design. The biggest change this year is the location of the dinner. The VFW building in DePue is being rented by the EPA as part of the Superfund cleanup and is therefore unavailable. We have moved the dinner to the Days Inn in Princeton. All you will need to do is download , you may need to save it to your computer first , then print the form and follow the directions. If you are unable to open the form , send me an email at 1daledog1@gmail.com and I will send one to you.

Since the dinner is at the Days Inn in Princeton it will also be the host hotel. We have a block of rooms available there and each room will come with a 10% discount but you MUST CALL THE HOTEL DIRECT. Call 815-875-3371 , select 0 from the options , ask for Ruth Ann and tell her it is for the DePue Reunion. It is best to call during the week between 8am and 4pm.

For those of you that want to bring display equipment we will be using the same location in front of the VFW. For the smaller displays I will checking into the possibility of storing those inside the VFW again , like we did last time. I have not , as of now , checked into the possibility of running your equipment on the lake but i will be checking with the USTS officials and will let you know when something has been worked out.

This years big raffle item is going to be a scale model DeSilva flat deck runabout being built by Derek Gessler. Thank you Derek. There will also be a silent auction table. If you have anything that you would like to contribute to the auction please let me know. The money from these items are used to offset the cost of the reunion and any and all profits are donated to the Save Lake DePue fund. In the past these profits have been used to help offset the cost of building the dams to maintain a safe racing depth so racing can continue on Lake DePue.

If you have any questions or concerns please email me at 1daledog1@gmail.com.

[John Schubert]

Rex,
We have & announced it to all that had previously registered & gave us their email address at that time.
Once all final details are posted the name of the hotel will be also. Just wanted to be sure that previous attendees had the opportunity to register prior to the room block selling out
John

[Rex Hall]

Have you come up with a host hotel yet ?

[racingfan1]

I had hoped to have have the registration form posted March 1st but we have had a bump in the road. The VFW building in DePue has been rented out by the EPA as part of the Superfund cleanup so we will not be able to use it for the reunion. We are in the process of looking at other venues close by and should have something solid in the next couple weeks. This will not change anything , the reunion is a definite go and will happen. John is working on getting a host hotel in Peru and we will let you know as soon as that is completed. The shirt design is back in the very capable hands of Ann Fitzgerald , who did the original shirt , so you know it will be good. So make your plans to attend this great event.

[racingfan1]

We will be back to the hog roast for the dinner meal and the 2019 big raffle item is going to be a scale model DeSilva flat deck runabout. Look for the registration form either here , on BRF or via email if I have you address from the last reunion around Feb 20 - 23.