Potomac, MD 20854
February 26, 2004
Dear Northridge Descendants,
You are invited to a reunion of Northridge descendants this summer. We are planning a family picnic event alongside Cedar Lake on the grounds of the Host Hotel in Sturbridge, Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon, July 17th. We also are strongly considering a guided tour of Northridge family-related sites in the Worcester area sometime that weekend (perhaps late Friday afternoon or sometime Sunday afternoon).
We want to know what kind of activities you would like to experience at the reunion! To date, we've arranged for a large tent and a catered cookout, including hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, pasta salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, apple pie, lemonade, and iced tea. We expect to have genealogy displays that you can review at your leisure. For an additional $5 fee, individuals get unlimited use fo the hotel's recreational facilities, including miniature golf, swimming in the lake or indoor pool, beach volleyball, horseshoes, paddle boat rides, and pontoon boat rides. But what else would you like to see at such an event? Some folks have suggested ice-breakers (thereby facilitating distant cousins meeting each other), a magic show for the kids, a sing-along of Irish songs, photo opportunities, a chance to interview senior citizens about their family memories, and/or a genealogy presentation. We can't guarantee that we'll arrange any specific activity. But we are very interested to hear what you want to see at this reunion. Please let us know!
We've never had an event quite like this before (ie, open to all Northridge branches), so we're not quite sure what to expect. For example, there are several hundred living descendants of Northridges, and we plan to welcome any descendant who is interested in attending. Honestly, we have no idea of how many will attend (60? 80? 100? more?!?!), although the initial feedback has been very positive. Thus, it is very important for you to RSVP as soon as possible. Even if you're not certain yet, it would be useful to know whether you're likely to attend and how many people you hope to bring.
We also need volunteers to help with the event. To date, Joy Schoenfeldt and I have done most of the planning, with my nephew Jere doing an outstanding job in building and launching a website for the reunion (www.oocities.org/northridgefamily). Leslie Brown and Ron Josephson have volunteered to help coordinate the genealogy-related efforts. But we need help! There are numerous tasks, the most immediate task being to help us spread the word about the reunion and track down certain individuals. If you're willing to help us with anything, please let us know!
Here's some of the logistical information: The Host Hotel (a former Sheraton) is located on Main Street, across from Old Sturbridge Village. Its website address is www.sturbridgehosthotel.com and the phone number is (508) 347-7393. The hotel has reserved a block of rooms for us at a discounted price of $89 per night. The hotel will reserve these rooms until one month before the event. The hotel is catering the cookout, and the reunion staff is collecting $25 per grownup and child aged 12 and up (seniors over 85 free) and $16 for children aged 4 years to 11 years (children younger than age 4 are free). Checks should be made payable to Joy Schoenfeldt and sent to her at 31 Crestview Drive, Holden, MA 01520. Feel free to contact her (508/829-6175) or me directly if you have any questions.
Finally, we would also love your help in updating our family tree. If you haven't kept Leslie, Ron, Joy or myself up to date with genealogy information, then please take time now to help us update our records. We, and future generations, will be grateful for the time you spend recording this information. (Leslie can be reached at mcphee@mindspring.com and Ron can be reached at ron@power-guide.com).
We're looking forward to a wonderful event. Hope to see you in July!
With all good wishes,
Mike Northridge
Home: 301/762-7013 Email
Work: 202/564-4263 Email
This page maintained by Jere Northridge