After a few years of planning, followed up by several weeks of intense preparations and work, it all came down to this weekend: August 2nd to 4th in Kinkora, Prince Edward Island.
On Friday night, the Boxcar Pub & Grill in Emerald welcomed about seventy-five McIver family members for drinks and dinner. They were even kind enough to put together a McIver reunion special meal, featuring BBQ meatballs, roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables!
On Saturday, it was Kinkora’s turn to welcome McIver family members, by opening the doors to Kinkora Place and allowing us to host our reunion! They even put up “Welcome McIver Family” on the big display outside, letting drivers and other passer-bys know that we were in town.
Inside the hall, photo displays were hung from the walls so people could peruse and reminisce about past family members, and past family reunions. On display was an Irish flax spinning wheel, brought to PEI in 1839 by Hugh McIver and a window pane (of glass) where Bernetta McIver (daughter of T.A. McIver) etched her name in glass using her diamond engagement ring, perhaps testing to see if the diamond was in fact real! Also on display were two fragments of the original headstone of Hugh McKeever, recently found in the field behind the St. Malachy cemetery.
During the afternoon, Michelle and Pat McIver made a presentation about this website to a well-attended group of family members, which also included (at a very high level) how to access the electronic family tree. This presentation was followed up by a small group discussion led by Ron McIver about a project family members are undertaking to return the fragmented headstone of Hugh McKeever to the St. Malachy cemetery, as part of a memorial bench. Details on this will follow!
Overlooking all this was a new giant 12′ x 4′ banner of Hugh McKeever and Mary Quinn, displaying the names of the children of the first family and their immediate children.
At the evening event attended by roughly 140 family members, Marlene Nicholson did a wonderful job mc’ing the festivities, which included a fantastic turkey dinner catered by 9 Haven Catering of PEI. We were especially blessed to have Fr. Andrew Handrahan of St. Malachy’s Parish attend to lead us in prayer and thanksgiving before our meal. The highlight of the evening — well, one of many — was the keynote presentation given by Dr. Ed MacDonald who gave a fascinating (and humourous) talk about the history of Irish settlement to PEI. He even stayed for a considerable amount of time afterwards, listening to stories and answering questions from reunion attendees!
And today — Sunday — the reunion wound down with a Catholic Mass at St. Malachy’s Church, the ancestral home of Hugh and Mary, followed by a tea-and-coffee reception back at the Kinkora Place. Special thanks goes out to Donna McIver and the ladies at the St. Malachy’s CWL for catering this reception. It was also during the reception that we “spun the wheel” to pick the winner of the meet-your-family Bingo card activity that accompanied the Saturday evening festivities. The winner received a printed copy of the just-released 4th edition of the McIver Family History Book. Displayed on the big screen for all present to see, we spun the wheel (courtesy of wheelofnames.com), and Laura Drennan was the lucky winner!
It has certainly been a busy last few days, with reunion attendees reconnecting with old family members and meeting other family members for the first time.
There were many, MANY people who helped make to make this reunion a great event. The organizing committee would like to thank each and every one of those who helped pull this event off. Whether it was simply taking scotch tape off the roll and giving it to a person to stick some photos onto a display board, or by offering up their skills to design and produce a McIver Family Reunion 2024 t-shirt (a big shout-out to Derek McIver for that!), everyone’s efforts went a long way to making this event a success!
In the coming weeks, the organizing committee will do a debrief and take stock of what worked, what didn’t, and how the reunion can be improved for the next one in 2029 (yes, that’s right — put it on your calendars now!). We’re told the name tags with the historical lineage on the back was a real hit, so consider that a “will certainly be done next time” item!
Also in the coming weeks will be information and details on how to share (likely via a private shareable link/folder) with reunion attendees all those photos that were taken over the course of the past two days.
In the meantime, thank you! to everybody for attending the 2024 McIver Family Reunion, and safe travels home to all those who came from away to join us in Kinkora.
The 2024 McIver Family Reunion Organizing Committee (Paula Aylward, Betty McIver, Michelle McIver, Patrick McIver, Ron McIver and Laura Drennan)