[2024-06-23] Strawberry Social
Today, my mom, my daughter and I attended the Strawberry Social at the North Lanark Regional Museum in Appleton, Ontario. This quaint museum collects, preserves and displays the history of Mississippi Mills, which is made up of the former Townships of Ramsay and Pakenham and the Town of Almonte. We met my mom in Carleton Place (a 17-minute drive for her and a 23-minute drive for me) and then drove the 9 minutes to the Museum.
Today's Strawberry Social was the second event we've attended at the North Lanark Regional Museum, the first being the Mother's Day Tea in May. Judging by those two occasions, I can say with confidence that this organization knows how to make guests feel welcome.
Like the Mother's Day Tea, the Strawberry Social took place on the lawn beside the museum. We sat under two large tents, protected from the threat of rain. Miraculously, we enjoyed a reprieve from the almost incessant downpours of earlier in the day. It even got sunny at some points. The air was warm, with a refreshing breeze passing through the tents. The setting was picturesque—surrounded by trees and fields.
Coffee, tea and punch were available from the moment we arrived. Soon after we had helped ourselves to some delicious punch, volunteers began emerging from the museum, carrying trays of strawberry shortcake. The dessert consisted of delicate rounds of angel food cake, juicy strawberries and a generous dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream. The volunteer who remembered us from the Mother's Day Tea in May happily brought us a pot of boiling water so that we could have decaffeinated tea that I had brought from home and accommodated our request for one cream-free strawberry shortcake for the dairy-sensitive member of our party. The dessert was perfection—a bargain at only $15 per person.
While we ate, we were entertained by the Perth Citizens' Band, which its website notes is the longest continuously running town band in Canada, dating back to 1852. Today, they played music as diverse as the theme song to the sitcom Cheers, tunes from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussorgsky, and "Once Upon a Dream" from Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty. While playing their final medley of pieces by Rodgers and Hammerstein, we began to hear thunder rumbling in the distance. We decided not to overstay our welcome. Only once we were safely back in our car and driving down the country road on which we had arrived 90 minutes earlier did we experience any rain at all during the event. We felt lucky and very satisfied.
Check the Museum's website or Instagram account for details on future events, as they become available. We will be returning.
