Letter From the President, December '08
As we prepare for our last meeting of the year, I thought it would be fun to look back on what the Tri-State PrimeTimers Group did in 2008. This was a strange year indeed! Our March meeting was cancelled because of a blizzard and we held our September meeting during a Hurricane! Strange days indeed! But during the rest of the year we had fun!
We tried to turn our monthly meeting into "parties". Hope you had fun at the "Red" party at the Yadda Club, The Line-Dancing, 60's party in April, the "Dress Up from the Town you were born" in May, the "White Party" at the Farm, the Swim party at the Adonis, our "cowboy" party for our 11th Anniversary. At that party we also brought pictures of ourselves from the 70's. It was interesting seeing some of the guys 40 pounds lighter – and with hair! Even tough our March meeting was cancelled, a week later we were square dancing at the Anniversary party hosted by Roy/Don and Roger/Paul. I'm looking forward to our Christmas party this month as well.
If you participated in the Dining-Out Group, you had a chance to enjoy the company of your friends at restaurants like Bonefish, Palomino, Lenhardt's, Montgomery Inn, Mecklenberg Gardens, Ron's Roost, and Embers. The Fine Dining group feasted at Boca, Prima Vista and Oceanaire. Thanks to Jim and Ray for organizing these events.
We PrimeTimers were seen around town at our Friday Night Happy Hour club, mainly at the Below Zero Lounge which has become a home for us on Fridays. Some of us were all over the Tri-State area, participating in the "Special Event of the Month". We went to see the Cincinnati Men's Chorus "Revenge of the Divas" concert, "The Bodies" exhibition at Union Terminal, the Grand Victoria Casino, and Newport Aquarium. Thank you Rich for putting these events together.
The Movie and Dinner night continues to be popular on Wednesday nights. The guys who participate in that group were in the select group who had actually seen all the movies nominated for the Oscar. Thanks to John for organizing this year. The Theater group got an eyeful when they went to see "Take Me Out" and "The Full Monty". Thanks to Steve for making these opportunities available for our guys.
Thanks to our members for opening up their homes for our Cards and Game night. It's hard to find time to play cards at these parties sometimes, with all the good food and conversation, not to mention the swimming in August. It was especially hard to play at the Halloween "Spook-tacular" party. Thanks to Bill and Bob for keeping the parties going.
If you are more on a literary bent, you had a chance to read and discuss a wide variety of books at the Gay Literature Club, hosted by Roy and Don. Some books read this year included: Jack and Lem, City of Night, Call Me by Your Name, Mississippi Sissies, A Wolf at the Table.
Roger and Paul organized trips to the Cyclones Hockey and Red's games for the Sports Attending group. Jeff brought the Volunteering group to the Free Store 3 times last year, Dan organized a trip to Puerto Vallarta. We had a guest speaker come in to discuss "Understanding Social Security". Unfortunately, that presentation was the same day as the hurricane, so we will have to have Michael back again next year. Thank you Chuck and Luther for your work with the hospitality group.
Thanks to everyone who came down and helped with our booth at the Pride festival and parade in June. Without a doubt, we had the most people ever visit our booth, and learn about our organization. It helped that we were giving away gas cards during the gas crunch we were experiencing at the time! Thank you Lon for making that event happen!
As you can see, our group was really busy last year. We have some really wonderful people in the group that give of their time to make this group what it is. Thanks to all of you for supporting the Tri-Sate Primetimers. Here is wishing you all a fabulous holiday and great new year!
John R. M. president