Annual Arctic Affair
KITTANNING — For Scott Ekas, high school reunions aren't limited to stuffy events held in a gymnasium.
The 1989 Knoch High School graduate prefers the great outdoors and a roaring campfire.
"We're all 36 or so, and we all have families. Nobody gets too out of hand," said Ekas of the men who attend an annual gathering he hosts at his camp near Kittanning.
Despite temperatures in the single digits, almost 30 men from the 280-person graduating class attended the most recent event last weekend.
On the menu were hot dogs with sauerkraut, nachos and cheese, homemade wine, rigatoni and Mike Kinard's "famous" chili.
Kinard drove five hours from upstate New York, where he owns an emissions monitoring and maintenance business. He called the chili, made with venison and chorizo sausage, an expansion on his wife's recipe.
"I've been making it for six or seven years, but she's the inspiration," he said.
Kinard joins travelers from Youngstown, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in the annual pilgrimage.
"It goes to show you how small the world is getting when I heard about this 7,000 miles away," said David Sinz, who has lived in Dubai with his wife and two children for the past three years.
He heads the international engineering department for the Butler architectural firm Burt Hill, and was among four men visiting Ekas' reunion for the first time.
"It worked out that I had to be here for some meetings," said Sinz. "Honest to God I haven't seen most of these guys in 15 years."
"It's a good time. If we didn't do this, we wouldn't see anybody," said Chuck Nasiadka, who now lives in Saxonburg. "(Ekas) puts a lot of work into this and you always get surprises."
Scott Herbst of Saxonburg has attended the reunion every year. He is a co-founder of the event and its official disc jockey. "I've always done the music," said Herbst. "I'm a useless encyclopedia of rock knowledge. Well, my wife might call it useless."
While the two MP3 players he brought were filled with a few of his favorites, it also contained tunes unheard since under-21 dances at Frisco's Bar and Grill almost 20 years ago.
"I think it helps to take people back to high school and college, helps them remember things," he said.
Tom Wright of Fenelton, who brought the homemade blueberry wine made by his neighbor, said almost everybody who attends is married, or has been.
"The happier group probably depends on when you ask," said Wright.
The group had 85 pallets to set ablaze in the 5-foot-wide fire pit — about one every four minutes for a six-hour party, calculated Ekas."This is the first year we ever had to worry about keeping the beer warm," said Ekas, standing by the fire to keep warm in the 7-degree weather.Pepsi and water were kept in a cooler simply to keep them from freezing. The wine was long gone by 9 p.m.Cold weather does not ruin this picnic, though. And football games, if they fall on the same day, are projected on the side of the cabin if televised."We lost a few people to a Steelers-Jets game a few years ago, so I started projecting the (games)," said Ekas. "My hope is that eventually every guy from the class comes."His party has come a long way from seven years ago.It all started in December 2001, when Ekas and fellow 1989 classmates Mike Lambert and Herbst were reminiscing about their high school days. Ekas suggested a gathering at his campsite in Kittanning to bring everyone together.A January date was set and the men contacted as many people as possible by e-mail and telephone."I continued sending message after message, like letters in bottles from a stranded mariner," said Ekas.The January date was set to avoid summer and holiday scheduling conflicts.Ekas said he was not convinced of a large turnout when contacting people he hadn't spoken to in 12 years, but was optimistic at the enthusiasm people showed once he convinced people he wasn't selling anything.Ekas, who lives with his family in Saxonburg, is a salesman for Agip Lubricants in Cabot.His worries were for naught, though, and now each year between 20 and 40 people show up to eat wings and chips and listen to music."Social networking sites (like MySpace and Facebook) make it a little easier finding people," said Herbst. "And you're not going to go home hungry, that's for sure"For some partygoers, the event takes all day, since help is needed in setting up the fire, food and shelter before the gathering.""Typically what we see is once you've come one time, you're drawn back in again," said Ekas.He has attended his five-, 10- and 15-year high school reunions and said he intends to go to the 20th."This is a different type of camaraderie. All the cliques are gone. We're grown men, and it makes you feel young again," said Ekas, before correcting himself."Well, younger again."
