by Tim Louque, Activities Committee

Fields of snow, the fast pace of excited children running here and there, a blur of activity in bounce houses, cries of absolute delight, squeals of laughter, painted faces, balloon animals for all, train rides, once in a life time pictures with Santa, warm beverages, donut holes and kolaches – even Milk-Bone treats for the dogs! As if taken from the script of a Hallmark Christmas movie, this was the scene at Timbergrove Manor Civic Club’s Annual Winter Festival on Saturday, December 6 at Jaycee Park.

Everything that morning, including the weather, lined up perfectly for our 2014 Winter Festival and the festival’s attendance was the highest in years. In all estimations, the crowd numbered up to 325 people. A sentiment shared by all, the event was an overwhelming success! Everyone, including our volunteers, left smiling – satisfied, happy and full of memories to last a life time. New this year were three Timbergrove Manor Civic Club organizations tables. Lorraine Cherry set up an information table for West 11th Street Park in an effort to gather donations and interest in the remaining park trails to be built. Jennifer Vickers was in attendance promoting our fantastic neighborhood newsletter, The Timbergram. At the third table, the Membership Committee co-chairman, Gary Nordstrom was on hand to collect Membership Dues from any interested residents.

We offer our most heartfelt and sincere thanks to our generous sponsor Carolyn Bryant with RE/MAX Metro at 281-723-9810. With Carolyn’s continued support over the years, the Civic Club has been able to expand and improve the Winter Festival year after year.

It is the volunteers of Timbergrove Manor that make every Civic Club event a success. Thank you to the volunteers who were there that day, working to make it all perfect ... Bill Morfey, Carolyn Bryant, Darlene Wayt, Gary Nordstrom, Jeff Wayt, Jennifer Vickers, John Brewer, Kenny Bryant, Kirk Guy, Lorraine Cherry, Patricia Brewer, Pete Davies. Thank you also to a couple of invaluable advisors from event in past years, Jessica Nute and Idalia Morfey.

Among all of the volunteers who helped at the 2014 Winter festival, three young men from Waltrip High School stood out from the rest. Their names are Jason, JD and Arnulfo. They are on the Waltrip baseball team with Carolyn Bryant’s son-in-law as their coach. These high school students volunteer community service hours that are required for graduation. They worked their way into our hearts quickly. Thank you guys.

Stay tuned because we have even bigger plans for next year. We have already begun planning our 2015 event!