I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker for the Tropic Star (Pharr) Canadian get-together. There are a lot of Canadians at Tropic Star, the dinner was held at the Junction Café in Pharr, and we were literally bursting out of their private room. I had such a lovely evening. The group invited me join them for dinner, and we had the chance to visit prior to my presentation.While I was speaking about life in the Rio Grande Valley and thanking our Canadians for choosing the Valley as their home away from home, I canvassed the crowd, and a thought crossed my mind. I wonder who’s been here the longest and who’s been here the shortest length of time? I was amazed that hands went up when I asked if anyone in the crowd had been coming down for 25 years or more! Even more exciting was seeing the hands go up when I asked who’s here for the first time.I know many of you celebrate the folks who have been coming to the Valley for years and years – you can generally spot them in an instant as they have the dingle dangles hanging from their name badges to indicate how many seasons they’ve been here. But what about the new folks? How do you identify them in your parks? I ask because I don’t know. I do know that at some parks there are first-timer socials and the new people are asked to stand at park meetings, but it would serve us well to survey these folks–an exit survey, if you will. Find out what they liked, what surprised them, and what didn’t exactly float their boats. After all, these newcomers are the future of our parks, and if history repeats itself, they will be the ones to spread the word about our “magic Rio Grande Valley.” We need to celebrate them just as much as we need to continue honoring our long-timers.I’d love to hear from you about how you celebrate newcomers in your park. I’d also like to hear directly from those of you who are new to the Winter Texan lifestyle – hear your thoughts on the Rio Grande Valley and your first experience with us. Seeing our Valley from your fresh perspective will help us as a region in developing marketing strategies to attract more of you to visit our area.I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you, Ron Desrochers and all of the Canadians from Tropic Star for the lovely evening and paperweight with the maple leaf. It is proudly displayed on my desk! O Canada!We’re just connecting the dots,Kristi