The Country Classics Car Club rolled into Niverville last week with a surprise for local seniors.
Sandra Kihn, a member of the club, says it’s not unusual for them to visit senior homes, and it's something they enjoy doing throughout the season. This is their first official stop of the year was at the Niverville Heritage Centre.
“It is our first time in Niverville. We reached out to another community, not just staying inside (of Steinbach) because we do have car members that are not just from Steinbach. They are around the area, so we did want to go to Niverville, and it was really well received.”
The visit brought plenty of smiles as residents stepped outside to admire the lineup of beautifully restored vehicles.
“There’s a lot of older cars that they remember from their bygone years," Kihn explains. "We had a lot of people that came from out of the town of Niverville because they got so excited, they posted it on social media, and we had people coming in from Sprague, Beausejour, and Lac du Bonnet. So, it wasn’t just our car club that was there. We had many others join us.”
While Kihn admits she can’t recall exactly how the idea of visiting seniors began, she says it’s a meaningful way for the group to give back to the community.
The Country Classics Car Club already has more visits planned. In June, they’ll stop by Rest Haven Woodhaven, with two additional “park nights” coming up in August.
“We're going to be at Parkview Cedarwood for a very short time before our park night on Wednesday night, we park every Wednesday night where people come and look at it, look at our cars," says Kihn. "We're also going to Bridgepark Manor in August. We were also there last year, and they were really excited to have us again this year.”
Cindi Plessis, Service to Seniors Coordinator at the Niverville Heritage Centre, says the event was a success.
“It was a fantastic event. We had great weather, we had a great turnout. I think sometimes when we promote an event, we just expect seniors to come, and we had all ages attend the event, which was great to see. And I think at one point we counted, there were 59 cars that came.”
Plessis says they were thrilled to be chosen, especially since the club typically stays closer to the Steinbach area.
“They reached out to us because they wanted to give back to the seniors in our community. And it was just very, very well received. We were fortunate too that we could do it right here at the Heritage Centre because it's kind of the hub of where a lot of seniors live and a lot of the surrounding area is senior. So, it worked out very well for us.”
Seeing the old classics brought back a flood of memories for many in attendance.
“There were numerous people that came up to you and said, ‘Oh my goodness, this is just like a walk down memory lane. It was so fantastic.’ It was good to hear. I think it brought out the childhood in a lot of them that night,” Plessis shares.
She adds that events like this make a real difference in the lives of seniors.
“I think with any senior community, just isolation and loneliness are a huge part in seniors, so to provide an event like this to allow people to get out, meet other people, just walk around and get outside, that's huge for people, especially our seniors. So, it was really nice to have something like that for them to take part in.”
Given how well the evening went, she’s hopeful for more visits in the future.
“We would welcome them back anytime with open arms.”
With files from Kenton Dyck