Camaraderie and compassion were exemplified as bus loads of seniors pulled up in front of the Veterans of Foreign Wars club in the Falls Thursday.
The seniors, with friends and family, had come to listen to the regional “Second Wind Harmonica Band” which is also comprised of seniors.
The annual celebration has been happening for close to 10 years, said Joe Doris of the VFW which sponsors the event. Senior residents in wheelchair after wheelchair were unloaded from the Arrowhead Bus system so staff as well as the veterans of several wars could assist them in entering the hall.
“It’s nice that so many can get out and enjoy an afternoon,” said one man who fought in Vietnam.
Harmonica chords could be heard playing “The Tennessee Waltz” and German polkas as cookies and other goodies were passed around.
Seniors were summoned from the Littlefork Care Center and Jackpine Savage Assisted Living center in Littlefork; the Good Samaritan Society and River’s Edge Villa of International Falls; the Ranier Roost; and senior residences in Grand Rapids. The Second Wind band plays a regular circuit in all these locations.