Sorry for the delay but, work in the shop, other VW events and family commitments have all got in the way of getting the BusFusion 2004 report out and about. The BusFusion website,
The beautiful weather was a great benefit in attracting 135 VW campers to the fourth 2004 BusFusion event. Participants came from near and far. The infamous Larry Chase limped into the campground with a very poorly running Roadhaus all the way from Oregon. Other Volks from the IWCCC, WOTC, LiMBO, CCVWC, Full Moon Bus club, and The Bug Pack came from Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Quebec, Greater Toronto Area, and Eastern Ontario. Many day visitors including family members, members from the Capital City Volkswagen club, Cornwall Volkswagen club, and the Ottawa V-dubbing club came to visit BusFusion and to enjoy the RiverEdge activities. Throughout Almonte, local artisans practised their art skills and sold their wares. In addition, there was an Ontario Open Doors event of the historic sites in and around The Town of Mississippi Mills. On Saturday morning after the flea-market, the many door prizes and fifty-fifty raffle were drawn. Thank you to all the sponsors who have helped to make BusFusion a great event. Ron Cashman won the stainless steel muffler donated by STEBRO and Frank Condelli. A member of the International Westfalia Club won the sought after dish set with the VW Bus' on the rim donated by The Bus Depot.
Other highlights are that Greg Potts entertained us when he took the engine out from his Bay Window bus to replace a disintegrated throw-out bearing. The amazing thing was that someone had a spare throw-out bearing with them. Ben Huot from Montreal demonstrated his remote control flying skills of an electric powered helicopter. Adrianne Steel, a local artist, painted Hans Brouwer's 1969 Bus with children from around the world playing basketball under an apple tree.
The evening activities included a film night on Thursday night, Jazz crawl on Friday night, and on Saturday night there was music around the campfire provided by BusFusion partisans (a violinist, a few guitar players, couple of harmonicas and many voices).
Cooling off in the Mississippi River, canoeing, socialising, and shopping in Almonte were some of the favourite activities of the BusFusion participants.
On Sunday morning, volunteers prepared a Burrito breakfast for all the BusFusion participants. The Burrito breakfast was such a great success that we will have to do this again next year at the fifth BusFusion.
After the Breakfast, the final prizes were given out for the best decorated campsite (where did Greg get that 6 foot Corona beer bottle), Larry Chase won the price for having the most gadgets, and the Bean Bus', donated by Bill Monk, were handed out for the kids colouring contest.
Thank you to everyone who came to BusFusion to make this a memorable event, see you all next year !
Cheers
Frank Condelli - 613-256-6763 Almonte, Ontario, Canada BusFusion.com: VW Camper event, Almonte, ON, June 12 ~ 15, 2003 frankcondelli.com VW Vanagon & Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley STEBRO/Vanagon SS Exhaust System