Riverview Collegiate all-year reunion in the planning stages

Planning is well underway for the Riverview Collegiate 60th all-year reunion that will be taking place August 9-11, 2019. A meeting held on June 11 in the Learning Centre at Riverview Collegiate brought together a group of alumni to begin planning the various activities that would be offered over the reunion weekend.

The meeting was open to all alumni and led by the reunion executive planning committee. Terry Wallace runs the alumni website and indicated that the committee has been working on this project for more than a year already. “We actually started about a year and half ago and our first serious consideration was whether or not to have a 60th. The results were favourable from our email database so we decided to go ahead and start planning.” This all-year reunion is expected to have upwards of 600 people in attendance, although Mary Lee Booth, co-chair of the event says that the target is 800. “This is a big venture and this may be the last all-year reunion for Riverview. We are really hoping that there is a lot of interest and high attendance at the event.”

The executive planning committee are very much aware that advance planning is important for an event of this size. “We will have a lot of events taking place at the exhibition grounds because we will need a lot of space. But it is also very important to us to utilize the school building so we can showcase the school as it is now,” says Darlene Guy, a member of the executive committee. “We are just touching the surface now, obviously, but it is going to be a whole weekend of fun, friendship, and gathering!” Booth agrees. “It’s always nice to see our old friends and not only the people from your graduating class, but also the people in the years around that. It is a really nice time to celebrate Riverview and meet up with old friends, tell stories and pretend we are all teenagers again.” While the team is on target for next summer, they are still looking for volunteers and people to get the word out to make next summer “a summer to remember.” The organizing committee is especially looking for some younger people to come out, “those who graduated in the last 10 years.” Debbie Mayson says, “We have a lot of stories we could tell!” Alumni can access up-to-date information about the events that are being planned and subscribe to the email list at riverviewalumniassociation.org.