7/12/16

Past, current and future generations of the Sawbill crew.
This past weekend we were greeted with over 180 members of the Sawbill family. The celebration began Friday night with a cocktail party, the evening filled with hugs and very enjoyable conversations of recent life and reminiscence of past Sawbill adventures.
The festivities continued on Saturday afternoon with our annual Dragon-boat races, containing 17 canoes and 68 competitors. Later everyone joined once again for dinner (with lots of wild rice goodies) and our reunion program.
Former crew member, Kathy Heltzer served as our master of ceremonies and sang a tune, contrary to its title, the very comical “Sawbill Blues”. This was followed by the 2016 Sawbill crew’s skit performance. Next, both former owner, Bill Hansen, and current owner, Clare Hansen Shirley addressed the crowd with memorable speeches and, with a moment of silence, we recognized crew members who are no longer with us. The night proceeded with a Beyonce inspired canoe orientation dance led by current crew members, Emma and Elena, and concluded with dancing in the dome accompanied by music from Terence Smith.
Bill and Cindy Hansen have worked as the owners of Sawbill Canoe Outfitters the past 30 years and in his speech Bill illustrated the three things he believes make Sawbill such a wonderful place. He spoke of Sawbill’s mission envisioned by Frank and Mary Alice Hansen in 1957, the endless and beautiful wilderness that surrounds us, and the many crew members that make up the Sawbill family. After living here the past two months I can’t help but to agree with him and I am so glad to be a part of the Sawbill crew.
We would like to extend a big thank you to Bill and Cindy from the entire Sawbill family for making Sawbill such a wonderful camping destination and home to many over the past thirty years! We wish you the best in your retirement!
Also thank you to all the former crew members and their families who came to visit this past weekend. It was great to meet and reunite with all and we look forward to seeing you at the 70th reunion! -Alissa

The 2016 Sawbill crew and campground hosts.
Top row (L to R): Kevin, Nick, Rachel, Louise, Jim, Dave, Phil, Jessica, Bill, Kit, Clare, Elena, Cindy, Claire
Bottom row (L to R): Dan, Lindsey, Brian, Alissa, Emma, Meg, Laura, Owen