The Ontario Sunrisers held their 2023 Fall Rally at Bluewater Park Campground in Wiarton, Ontario, from September 26 – 29. We had 32 LTVs registered to attend, which included seven attending their very first rally. We arrived on Tuesday and had a check-in process followed by a meet and greet session with prize draws and a potluck appetizer get-together by the bay. What an incredible smorgasbord of food that everyone contributed. That evening, we had a campfire with a very large ring of people, which gradually got smaller and closer to the fire as the night proceeded.
Wednesday morning, we had coffee and pastries and fruit by the bay, and at 10:30 am, 37 hikers started out on a 6-kilometer hike along the Bruce Trail and up the spiral staircase to the ruins of The Corran. The Corran was a 17-room stone mansion built in 1882 by Alexander McNeil who was an MP in the Canadian Federal Parliament. In its heyday, the 121-hectare estate had lavish gardens with 500 rose bushes. The home-style was similar to Alexander’s family estate in Northern Ireland. The estate was vacant for many years in the ’60s, and then Grey Sauble Conservation purchased it for a park.
Once everyone returned to the campground, people enjoyed socializing in the afternoon with our spectacular view of Colpoys Bay. That evening, we walked over to the Wiarton Legion for a lovely roast beef dinner followed by homemade desserts, Following dinner, we had a local teacher/historian, Victor Last, give a very lengthy talk about the history of the area from the 1880’s through to the 1920s, followed by a question and answer discussion.
On Thursday morning, as people had their coffee, we did a show-and-tell discussion where people brought along unique items they had purchased for their LTVs. This was a big hit as people brought very useful items that we could now add to our shopping lists. Following our show and tell, we did our group photo, and then people spent time discussing RV upgrades with Ray Outfitted. In the afternoon, two different groups of people spent time at Karen’s Scrapbooking store in Wiarton, making wooden welcome stakes to use in their campsites. Later in the afternoon, we held a question-and-answer discussion in the campground. Several people visited restaurants in Wiarton for dinner, and later we had two campfires where some people made s’mores.
Friday morning was another nice sunrise over the bay, followed by coffee and conversation before saying our final goodbyes to the new friends we had made at this rally. If you get good weather like we did this time, Wiarton is a beautiful place to hold a rally. Safe travels wherever your LTV takes you.
Written by: Joel Smith
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