Suffield Bowling Buddies Season End Party was a Blast!

Suffield Parks and Recreation Bowling Buddies Bowling Luau Was a Hit!

Written by: Donna Carney-Bastrzycki-Director of Special Programs

The highly anticipated season end banquet for the Parks and Recreation Bowling Buddies and Bowling Buddies Jr. Group was held at Sunrise Park on Wednesday, May 15. The Pavilion was transformed into a “Tiki Hut” with our Beach Themed BBQ and Party. The sun was finally breaking through the clouds and smiles were abundant for our annual awards celebration and party. Everyone sang and danced the evening away as our dedicated volunteer-DJ-Kevin Landolina kept the great music playing. Sunrise Park is a true gem for Suffield and it makes a fantastic location for large parties and reunions. We had over eighty attendees from the Bowling Buddies and our new Bowling Buddies Jr. Program.

The Parks and Recreation Bowling Buddies group practices diligently for thirty weeks at Spare Time Lanes in Windsor Locks. The program starts up in September and ending in May. It is our longest running Parks and Recreation Program. Many of the participants also compete and train for the two Special Olympics Tournaments in the fall and represent Suffield extremely well bringing home many medals and awards. The Bowling Buddies Jr. program that was generously sponsored by the Foundation for Exceptional Children- (Sue Davis and Jill Caron). The younger bowlers also participated in three terrific sessions of bowling and did a fantastic job.

The year end banquet was held to recognize the hard work and dedication of the athletes and Special Partners. Each athlete received a trophy to recognize his or her impressive athleticism throughout the year, engraved with their High Games Scores. The overall team winners were also awarded with plagues. The team-“Alley Cats”-Amanda Rabideau, Mathew Kozaczka, Paul Chabot and Richard Cabot were the overall winners! Russ Weaver receive the Overall High Game Score-224 for men and Amanda Rabideau-167 for women. Blake Hardy received the outstanding sportsmanship plague and Linda Bayne was awarded the Team Spirit Plaque.Eric Haas who obtained the second overall Highest Game of the Season received the Courage and dedication award. Everyone really loved the delicious BBQ cooked up by Carol and Bob Chipkin, Diane Leroux and served by many volunteers. The music and awards ceremony were a blast in our fun, tropical themed environment.

Many thanks to Award and More of Enfield for the excellent engraving! Special thanks go out to Spare Time lanes for their generous trophy donation for the group. If you and your family are looking for a great place to bowl and have fun Entertainment, Spare Time Lanes in Windsor Locks is the place to go! A portion of this program was also made possible through a generous donation from the late Daniel Sullivan JR. family. The Special Partners that are volunteers for the program were also individually recognized with awards. Without the help of the volunteers and Special Partners, this program would not be possible. Special thanks goes out to DJ-Kevin Landolina, Bernice Hollander and Cyndie Rabideau who has helped tremendously throughout the year.

If you are interested in participating as an athlete or volunteering as a Special Partner for the 2019/2020 season please contact-Donna Carney-Bastrzycki, Director of Special Programs at dcarney@suffieldct.gov or 860- 668-3862. We have many other fun activities and outings planned throughout the year for the group.