Good Sam Mini-Samboree at Watrous Regional Park
Watrous - Tuesday, September 10, 2013
by:Timothy W. Shire
I suspect that defining what the Good Sam club is all about would be futile, because it is becoming pretty clear to me, that it is really something special to each and every member, and that each might define the club as it relates to them. The RV folks from and near the communities of Melfort, Nipawin, Carrot River, Hudson Bay, Mistatim, Weekes and Tisdale have their own chapter of the club called Wheatland Sams which are part of the provincial body with similar organisations through out Canada and all of the United States.
Each month the clubs meet and socialise planning their summer activities. Rosetown was the main Samboree for the province this year and then the Wheatland chapter had events at Hudson Bay and Nipawin. The participation in Back to Batoche was cancelled this year, but is expected to take place in 2014. The final event of each year for this chapter and for the other chapters in Saskatchewan, is the get together at Watrous Regional Park. In the coming year the main Saskatchewan Samboree is planned for Foam Lake.
We were unable to participate in the other events this year, although we were set for the Batoche Days, it meant that this final mini-Samboree was the only one we could make in 2013.
Watrous Regional Park is one of the largest and most developed Regional Park in the province, with full service hook ups for a very large number of units. As it turned out, this event was attended by more than 125 rigs from all parts of the province and at least one from North Dakota.
Coffee time, happy hour, simple games, bingo, a pot luck supper, a monster wiener roast and ice cream, garage sales and a Sunday Morning hymn sing were only some of the activities. But most of all, the main event was friends sharing time together and making new friends. Of course, there was informal discussions about places to go and visit, good camp grounds and bad, solving equipment headaches and loads of visiting. It would have been impossible not to have enjoyed oneself with such pleasant surroundings and company. The weather for all five days was beyond any expectations and it is hard to imagine how it could have been better.
There is a commercial aspect to the Good Sam Club and that is marketing of insurance, campgrounds and RV equipment and this seems to have been a growth of mutual assistance to provide for the needs of the membership. The clubs themselves do raise money, primarily to give it away, as each chapter has projects and provide support to Saskatchewan’s regional parks. The money raised at this Samboree all went to Camp Easter Seal.
Accompanying this page are sixty pictures that tell the story of the mini-Samboree on their own.
