Snowbirds say goodbye and prepare to fly away

The Destin Snowbird season is now officially over. Our last meeting was held on Tuesday, March 9 with at least 800 members in attendance. All of our meetings have been well attended, drawing crowds of 700-800 Snowbirds.

Our entertainment has been great throughout the year. This week ended with a Snowbird favorite, Rusty and Jabbo, sending us on our migrations north with such songs as “Take this snow and shove it”, “I'll Fly Away With You”, and of course “The Snowbird Song”. Rusty's banjo playing and Jabbo's keyboard had toes tapping and hands clapping. It was a great finish to our 2009-10 season.

We also need to thank each one of our 176 vendors who supported us. We are grateful for what you have done to help us each year by donating door prizes for our meetings. They are a great hit with our Snowbird members. Thanks to all of you.

Our Destin Snowbird club offered a great variety of activities enabling members to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends. These activities included bowling, boating trips, bridge, casino trips, a computer club, craft shows, fishing trips, a friendship club, a funology group, golf, tennis and quilting. We also had dances, a trip to New Orleans, concerts and almost a parade at Christmas (cancelled due to the weather). To all the volunteers who assisted in organizing these activities, we say thank you.

Along with all that we offered to our members, we still managed to give back to our local Destin community. The Destin Snowbird Club raised more than $7,800 from the Soundsations concert, which was donated to the Northwest Florida College arts program. Our golf charity event raised $1,500 for the American Cancer Society. We also donated $400 to Harvest House. And we know our Snowbirds have found lots of joy in being involved in some small way in the Destin community.

This is to many of us our second home. So as our season comes to a close, here's wishing all a safe trip home and looking forward to seeing you next season. And as our new president, Paul Hewitt says, “see'ya next year, folks”.

Diane Neeb is publicity director for the Destin Snowbird Club and can be reached at neebsnook@hotmail.com. For Snowbird information, visit www.destinsnowbirds.org.