Lido Shores: Fall Potluck: Who Needs an Umbrella When It Doesn’t Rain?

Dusk falls on Umbrella House at the 2019 LSPOA Fall Potluck

It was nearing the end of the week and Tropical Storm Nestor was making its way towards Florida, threatening Sarasota with a very wet weekend. Unfortunately, the LSPOA Fall Potluck was scheduled for that Sunday, October 20th, so it looked like wet weather could be a problem. Even though the Potluck was going to take place at “Umbrella House,” those who had been there knew that “umbrella” truly was a term of art... there would be no shelter from the storm under its slatted shade structure. But the weather gods smiled upon Lido Shores and Sunday dawned bright and sunny: the perfect day for a potluck.

70 LSPOA members enjoy Fall Potluck

More than 70-people RSVP’d their attendance and our LSPOA Social Committee was prepared for them. The call went out for setup volunteers and a swarm descended on Umbrella House at 1:00 pm sharp. It looked a little like the scene from “Witness,” where the little Amish boy rang the bell to summon his neighbors for help and everyone dropped what they were doing to come running.

Pretty soon tables and chairs were set up, tablecloths draped and Indian corn centerpieces, a nice change from our usual potted plants, provided by Cathy Voigts, were gracing each table. In less than an hour, everything was done and people drifted off to get ready for the evening.

Just before the party was to begin, Janet Augustine… our amazing LSPOA bartender… arrived with Fred Fiala to set up the bar. Denis Bischoff, “Mr. Ice”, again did the shopping to make sure that our wine, beer and sodas stayed frosty cool. Not long after that, our members began arriving with their dishes. Cathy and Jan Voigts manned the welcome table, handing out our new name badges as people came in. Tremendous thanks go to Elliott Himelfarb for producing brand new badges in time for this event.

Cocktail hour at Umbrella House

There were a number of new neighbors attending their first LSPOA Potluck. We welcomed Bob Hicks and Paula Botta (they just purchased 1400 John Ringling Parkway) and brothers Charles and Barton Lane. Barton, whose name tag mistakenly read “Burton,” (we need to get that fixed before the next time) and his brother inherited their mother’s home at 1144 Westway Drive.

Sue Weitendorf, 1177 Center Place, proved her worth her first time out by bringing battery-powered lanterns that helped light the way to packing up the City trailer at the end of the evening. Shelly and Ross Masters, 200 Morningside Drive, had attended our July Hot Dogs on the Beach event, but this was their first potluck. Bermudian friends of Susie and Bob Thill, Marty and Fiona Hatfield, mixed and mingled and made some neighborhood friends themselves.

Howard Rooks, Angie Reicheld and Susie Thill

A number of our members had come home from their travels abroad and brought back tales and photos. How did we do “show and tell” before iPhones? Bob and Sue Lifeso just returned from a barge trip down the Rhône River, topped off by a stay in Paris. Terry Nugent and Bernard Melanson had been in Europe for several weeks and only returned the day before our potluck.

Janet Minker and Elliott Himelfarb spent 10-days in Japan with Anne and Bob Essner (warning: slide show “opportunity” to come). Christina Landry flew in from New York Sunday morning after visiting daughter Jackie. For those of us who remembered Jackie as the kid who popped in and out of our potlucks for years, it’s quite a switch to think of her as a young career woman making her way in NYC. And Mark Flannagan and Tammy Wyman, who technically had only been out of town for the weekend, made the effort to get home in time to cook and still make it on time.

We were also glad to see Jonathan and Janean Sisler. Janean had been recovering from the flu and was happy to be back in the social swing again! But we lost “Madame President,” our own LSPOA Board President Lynn Carvel, to a migraine headache, leaving Elliott and Bob Thill to give an impromptu update on the state of the beach and our pavilion. The short version: the pavilion will have some repairs done this week and Elliott will be keeping a close eye on it as the water continues to encroach on our beloved symbol of Lido Shores.

Carrie Cox and Miriam Cassell

Ron Stanish came stag as partner Ken McMillan was ill. You know that Ken always brings baked beans. Ask him to bring dessert and guess what you’ll get. Ron was unwilling for the potluck to go without them so he brought beans made with his own recipe. Which were better? No one with any smarts would get into that discussion.

The surprise of the evening was having longtime resident and artist Florence Putterman stop by with her caregiver and her dog Gigi. It has been quite some time since Florence has been to one of our potlucks, so it was terrific to get the chance to stop by her table and say hello.

Of course dinner is never complete without dessert, and we were not disappointed with the delicious choices that were brought by Carrie and Ken Cox, Miriam and Stuart Cassell, Joan and Larry Reinebach, and Diane Turk. Just to gild the lily further, Christopher Banner brought Belgian chocolates that he and Kathrine Huelster had purchased on a recent trip to Europe. Kathrine had to be in California over the weekend, so chocolates were the perfect solution for Christopher who (according to Kathrine) “can’t cook” and had to work things out on his own.

Judy and Fred Fiala

Soon it was time to clean up and clear out. Mark Mattia took the lead, grabbing chairs and getting them out to the City trailer. Others followed suit, much more easily after we used Sue Weitendorf’s lanterns and others to light the way.

The general take on the evening? Most noted how great it was to see everyone, how good the food was (and the wine — thanks Fred and Judy!). Plus Diane Desenberg complimented neighborhood chefs on how many vegetarian choices there were. I guess we’re all eating better, except maybe for dessert.

Thanks to everyone who helped set up and/or clean up. Thanks also to Nancy Kelly of the City’s Neighborhood Partnership, which provides the trailer that magically brings us tables and chairs and whisks them away so LSPOA doesn’t have to buy or store them.

Potluck spread

And let’s thank each other for making the effort to bring such delicious homemade food. It makes coming to the potluck a treat instead of a trick. HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone!

FINALLY: For those of you who like to plan ahead, here are the dates for our next two events:

LSPOA Annual Meeting and Dinner
Sunday, January 19, 2020
at the Sarasota Yacht Club

Spring 2020 Potluck
Sunday, March 15th
location to be announced

Anne Essner

LSPOA Social Chair