Garon 2004 OFSC Volunteer of the Year

PHOTO CAPTION - FRONT: Bruce Robinson - OFSC volunteer committee, Monique and Michel Garon - 2004 OFSC Volunteer of the Year, OFSC secretary-treasurer Brenda Welsh, Mark Embury of Hyland Trailers; BACK: Ryan Bignucolo - OFSC VP, Liz Robinson - OFSC volunteer committee, and Dennis Burn - OFSC president at the awards ceremony Story by Deborah Aarts of Trail Rider.   Photo by Kevin McSheffrey of Trail Rider. KAPUSKASING - It is not often that Michel (Mitch) Garon finds himself at a loss for words. A self-proclaimed ‘snowmobiling fanatic', he loves nothing more than to discuss his favorite sport. So when he approached the podium silently and stared out at the crowd at the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) annual general meeting in Mississauga on Sept. 18, it was decidedly out of character. I'm usually pretty talkative, and when you get me going on the snowmobiling I can't stop, Garon says candidly, in a phone interview from his office in Kapuskasing.  I'm so involved, I believe in it, I love it, it's my passion, and I didn't have anything to say. I was just frozen stiff. I couldn't move, I couldn't say a word. As governor of District 15 - Northern Corridor du Nord, Garon had just been named winner of the OFSC's Lloyd Woods Memorial Award - Volunteer of the Year, an award he says was completely unexpected.   It was the biggest surprise of my life, he shares.   I was totally, totally surprised.  It's pretty humbling.  In the past, one of his duties as governor was to help select one volunteer from nominees put forth by district clubs.   In each district, the governors know pretty much all the people involved, and they would then pick the district volunteer out of these club volunteers,  Garon explains.  The top district volunteers are then submitted to a provincial group, who review the nominees and select the winner. This year, Garon did not participate in the nomination process at all, which he acknowledges in hindsight may have been a clue.   I didn't get to pick anybody this year, but I thought ‘I guess they've changed the format', he chuckles.   I wasn't involved at all. I never even thought about it at all, until I got to the AGM.  I didn't even know my name was picked as a district volunteer, or even submitted.   Garon's award recognizes an extensive record of involvement with the OFSC. Though he has been involved with the organization on various levels since the 1988-1989 season, his connections to the sport go much further back. Born and raised in Kapuskasing, Garon clearly remembers his first exposure to snowmobile culture.   I started snowmobiling with my parents in 1973.  That's when we bought our first snowmobile, and I was 11 years old.   As time went on, his taste for riding developed into a full-blown passion.  By the late 1980s, he felt it was time to start giving back to the sport he loved.   In 1988, Garon started helping his local club, the Kap Sno-Rovers Snowmobile Club.   At that point in time, our area of the province was getting ready to join the OFSC,  he explains.   We still had individual clubs, we were not part of the OFSC.   So there was discussion that we should open trails between these clubs and municipalities in order to join.   I knew some people in snowmobile club, and I just started getting involved.  It's been going on ever since. As his involvement with the sport intensified, he was drawn towards the OFSC.  Along with his position as governor, which allows him to sit on the board of directors, Garon is also president of the District 15 (Northern Corridor du Nord Snowmobile Association). Though this involvement prevents him from being as involved with the Sno-Rovers, he says he still tries to help his local club as much as possible.  I'm pretty busy on the administration side of the operation, and making sure everything works.  As far as the local club, I do help when we have fundraisers and participate by helping out at events and stuff like that.  I don't get involved in trail work any more, as I used to many years ago, but I'm still involved.   Plus, I'm always in discussion with the snowmobile guys, or the gang, so I'm pretty much in the loop, Garon says. With so much time invested on the organizational and administrative levels of the sport, not to mention his full-time job,  it is difficult to imagine that Garon has any time left to actually ride the trails. When asked if this is indeed a problem, he laughs.   A lot of people ask,  you know, ‘when do you actually find the time to ride?' Well, snowmobiling is my hobby.  That's the way I take it.   I do have a lot of riding time.  I tend to try and go riding pretty much every weekend, and I do the work in the week,  at nights. With such a recreational attitude towards the sport, it is perhaps not surprising that Garon no longer counts the number of  kilometers he rides in a year.  He currently rides a 2003 Ski-Doo MXZ 800 Rev, and says his focus now is on quality, not quantity.  At one time I used to make close to 8,000 km a year, or even more.  But then, the year after I would say, ‘oh, I only did 7,000 this year,  I've had a bad year.'   He says that the distance traveled is no longer a top concern. Now I count it in good rides.  Like, if it's a nice day and we've only done 100 km, then  it's been a great day,  it's been great.  I don't measure the quality of the snowmobiling in the amount of kilometers.  He is quick to add, but I do get quite a bit of  kilometers in!  Snowmobiling has become a family affair for this noted volunteer. Garon describes his wife as his ‘riding partner,' and says his daughter loves the sport as well, albeit on a different level.  She is now a full-blown teenager, so riding with dad and mom is not as important as it used to be,  he says with a chuckle,  but she still rides with her friends. She's a snowmobiler at heart too. Ultimately, Garon sees volunteering as a natural thing to do for an organization whose work he deeply believes in.  It was very important to me, because the OFSC is based on volunteers.  It's like winning the Stanley Cup of snowmobiling. I still can't believe it.  To be the most, I guess, deserving, hits me pretty deep,  Garon concludes.  I still don't know what words to use (to describe it).   As he presented the award to Garon, OFSC president Dennis Burns, said that when the Northern Corridor du Nord nominated him as club volunteer, they used such expressions as he's amazing,  he's absolutely valuable and the work he does is immeasurable. Burn added that Garon was nominated for ½his leadership, his motivation, his professionalism, his optimism and his ability to develop positive solutions.  And everyone who knows Mitch recognizes his excitement for snowmobiling is contagious.  He is truly a tireless promoter of our sport, concluded Burns.  The Lloyd Woods Memorial Award - Volunteer of the Year is sponsored by Choko Designs and Hyland Trailers.  Garon received a ball cap, a volunteer jacket, a Choko snowmobile suit and a two-bed open Hyland snowmobile trailer.

The Kap Sno-Rovers wish to personally thank Deborah Aarts and Kevin McSheffrey of Trail Rider for their permission to publish this article.