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All-Class Reunion wraps up fabulous, historic community party
One could almost feel the exhalations and deep breaths taken across Ely on Sunday and Monday.
Collectively, those who organized or even participated in Ely’s first all-class reunion in 20 years could finally take a breath and relax after a whirlwind week that will not soon be forgotten.
Well over 1,000 and perhaps as many as 1,200 graduates of Ely Memorial High School registered for the event, which spanned eight days and included numerous activities and individual reunions.
Hundreds toured the renovated school facilities and graduates came from across town or as far away as Japan and Europe to attend.
The reunion meshed with Ely’s July 4 festivities to make for a full week of gatherings, celebrations, concerts and more.
“I think everything went really well,” said Ann Johnson, co-chair of the reunion committee. “We had a lot of activities for all ages and there were different groups of people. I’d say there was a good a response from everyone.”
Two giant Rock the Park concerts served as bookends for the reunion with the July 4 activities in between.
Those were augmented by a bevy of reunion specific events, with the July 3 “Day at School” serving as a big hit.
Throughout the course of the day, several hundred people passed through the hallways of Memorial High School and got a look at the major renovations on campus that were part of a $20 million-plus improvement project.
“I did the day at school, and people were surprised by the new addition,” said Johnson. “It was exciting to tell them ‘you’re standing where the old boiler house was’ or ‘you’re where the Industrial Arts Building was.’ People thought it would take them 10 or 15 minutes to go through and I would see them an hour-and-a-half later.”
Current school staff and former teachers were on hand for the event, which included a spaghetti dinner in the school cafeteria and a somewhat impromptu photo of at least 200 people.
“I think my favorite moment was the all-class photo,” said Johnson. “It was a spur of the moment idea on Monday and how fun it was that people gathered around the front steps of the Ely school.”
A variety show entertained an audience of several hundred people the evening of July 3, and earlier in the week there were pontoon boat rides, a golf tournament a mining heritage day at the Pioneer Mine complex and a July 1 “all-class mixer” that featured the music of Ely’s Bill Bulinski and the Four Blue Teardrops.
Graduates from multiple decades interspersed at the event, which was sponsored by the Ely Echo, and the Miners Dry was filled to capacity and then some.
“People really did enjoy the music and that Monday night mixer,” said Johnson.
About 250 people attended the July 2 Ely Sports Hall of Fame Banquet and an alumni baseball game was held on Saturday, July 6, after the scheduled contest the night before was postponed because of rain.
Numerous individual classes, or groups of classes, also held reunion events at local businesses or private homes.
Statistics are still being compiled, but Johnson said it appeared that the Class of 1976 had the most attendees at the reunion.
“I’m excited to see the outcome of who came the furthest and what states dominated,” said Johnson.
Graduates came from states including Texas, Florida and California, while 1987 graduate Pam Bovitz returned from Japan for the event. Ely’s classes of 1974 and 1981 were both reunited with foreign exchange students who came back to town for the reunion.
Anecdotally, there were reports of brisk business at eating establishments and evening gathering places, while rooms were at a premium throughout the week.
It took nearly two years for the reunion to come together, with a core group of about 20 people organizing the events, with the help of many other volunteers.
“Everybody took on a position or took charge of an event and followed through and made it happen,” said Johnson.
This was Ely’s first allclass reunion since 2004 and the success of this year’s event has naturally spawned talk of a future reunion.
Johnson said it’s too soon to say when Ely will hold another reunion, but there may be possibilities that some of the events that took place this year might occur before there’s another full-fledged reunion.
“Some of the things I would bring back are the tours of the school as there will be more updates,” said Johnson.
