REMIND Summer Gathering Party July 16th

Summer Gathering at Harkness Park 275 Great Neck Rd. Waterford, Ct. 06385 There is a $7.00 parking fee to the park. The Summer Gathering at Harkness Park will be Saturday, July 16th at 11:00am. Rain date will be the following Saturday, July 30th. The gathering is open to our entire message board family; those looking into weight loss surgery, pre-ops, post-ops and all of your family members and significant others. Harkness is a beautiful ocean side state park with a lovely mansion, miles of walking paths and European gardens. Harkness is also a dog friendly park but dogs must be leashed at all times and you must clean up after your dog. We are planning a volleyball game but there is plenty of room for other activities so encourage the family to bring whatever they enjoy doing. It is a popular place for kite flying and rollerblading. There is easy access to the beach but swimming is not permitted, though you often see children wading in the channel searching for crabs. If you are a fisherman you may want to bring your poles. What to BringWe ask that people bring their own chairs, blankets and picnic lunch. There are picnic tables and several charcoal grills on site if needed. We will have a small 10'x10' canopy but there is plenty of shade and a cool ocean breeze. We will have "WLS Gathering" signs posted. We are not setting an ending time to our party because people may choose to spend the whole day. The park is open till sun set. PhotosWe are planning a "getting to know you activity". Please bring a pre-surgery photo if you are post-op. We will be collecting photos. The photos will later be passed out to random individuals or two-person teams to find the person that matches the photo. That person will then be tagged and will wear their "before" picture. Please feel free to share other photos or albums. I know many of you are scrap booking your journey and we would all love to see your creative memories. RaffleWe will also be holding a raffle to raise money for the Obesity Foundation, which is planning their "Walk for Obesity" for September 24th. If you have any items for raffle please contact Kathy. Example: I will be donating some of my jewelry. You may have a business or a craft that others would be interested in. Be creative, these do not have to be big donations. We thought it would be a fun activity . DirectionsHarkness is fairly well marked. We recommend using MapQuest so that you can get directions from your home.If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me Carolyn Stangle, at [email protected] Kathy Krewsky [email protected] or Kim Callahan at [email protected] Come over and meet all of us there!!! You will be glad if you show up and enjoy yourself there. Kim works so hard to make plan for kids activites there !!!! Hugs Kathy K