Reunions are usually fun events.

While they remind us — particularly in our later years — how old we’ve gotten, it’s always good to re-connect with old friends with whom we worked, attended school, played sports, served our community and/or our country, and so forth. Inevitably, there are whispers about how much weight someone has gained or how much hair they’ve lost. Conversely, though, there are also complimentary observations about how well some old friends have aged, how fit they are, or how much better they look after transitioning to contact lenses. We might even notice when someone’s “had some work done” in the form of a facelift, tummy tuck or, well, you know, other enhancements.

The same types of observations are often made at family reunions, too.

It’s hard to believe my high school class of 1972 at Norwich Free Academy will conduct its 50th reunion next year. It wasn’t so long ago that we considered 50th class reunions to be for “really old” people. Good heavens, have we gotten “really old” so soon? Next year’s long-anticipated reunion will be a topic for a future column.

Today, I want to invite everyone to the best reunion of the year. There’ll be great food and cold beer, and it’ll be held outside, with luck under sunny skies. It will be an opportunity for old friends — and new ones — to gather and reminisce. Best of all, it’s open to the public and it supports a great cause.

Of course, I am referring to the annual Bid’s Tavern Reunion, scheduled for Saturday, June 19, at the Yantic Volunteer Fire Department, 151 Yantic Road in the Yantic section of Norwich. The festivities, which will include live music, begin at noon and will continue until 5 p.m. No one will go home hungry.

For those who frequented Bid’s in the good ol’ days, former owner Tom LaFreniere, who turned 93 earlier this month, will lead a group of volunteers manning the grills. They’ll be serving up Combos, Supremes, Astros, New York Dogs, regular hot dogs and burgers, while at a nearby table, soda and beer will be sold. LaFreniere reports he has already prepared 10 bushels of peppers and will be peeling 100 pounds of onions the night before the event (yes, he says, he still gets teary-eyed when he prepares the onions).

Hundreds of people will attend the reunion — some who ate and drank regularly at the iconic tavern when it was open, others who never had the good fortune to experience it. Be prepared to wait in line for the food, but know that you’ll probably be standing near someone you know and that the food will have been well worth the wait.

This is the 11th annual reunion (last year’s was cancelled due to the pandemic), and LaFreniere says he’ll “keep on doing them as long as I’m alive.” The event is a fundraiser for the Yantic Volunteer Fire Department, which receives “every nickel” raised at the event, according to LaFreniere.

The reunion is like something out of Norman Rockwell, and, like Bid’s itself, will attract and welcome people from every demographic.

“We’ll see a lot of old friends and we’ll make some new friends,” said the always-affable LaFreniere, who makes friends better and faster than anyone. “The best thing is that people will be together, talking to each other face-to-face, not on their cell phones.”

Bid’s Tavern operated for decades until the late 1980s out of a small building on Route 12 in the city’s Greenville section. It was Norwich’s version of Cheers, only with a homier, more casual feel. Bankers, lawyers, journalists, construction workers, public works employees, retirees and many others from all walks of life gathered there regularly to enjoy hearty food, cold beer, good fellowship, a game of pool, a ballgame on the TV — and all in a setting where everyone knew your name.

No one made you feel more welcome than the proprietors of Bid’s Tavern, Tom LaFreniere and his wife, Betty, who would greet you by name the moment you walked in through the front door. As soon as you came in, Tom would call out your name, and most of the other patrons in the establishment would turn around to at least give you a discerning look, then welcome you in themselves.

The aroma of meat sauce, grilled steaks, sausages, pastrami, ham, onions and peppers also greeted you upon arrival. Back then you could get a large Combo or Supreme grinder for $2.50. Combos consisted of steak, sausage, grilled onions, peppers and cheese. A Supreme was made with steak, salami, onions, peppers and cheese.

If you weren’t quite so hungry, you could order an Astro sandwich made with hot pastrami, Virginia baked ham and cheese on a hard roll or a New York Dog, a hot dog with meat sauce and chopped raw onions — sauerkraut on the hot dog was optional. I liked mine with mustard on top of it all.

A large pitcher of domestic beer back then cost $3.50. There were no imports. As mentioned, Bid’s was a great gathering place with more-than-ample food, beer and warm friends, but there was nothing fancy about it. There were 15 or so stools set up at the bar and, maybe, a dozen booths.

If there were no seats, Tom might ask patrons at a half-empty booth to make room for others who had just arrived and were looking for a place to sit. One Saturday afternoon, a friend and I arrived and couldn’t find anywhere to sit, so Tom asked former Norwich Free Academy basketball coach Tim Ryan, who was sitting alone, if we could sit with him in his booth.

“Sure, have a seat,” Ryan replied.

Over the next several hours and who knows how many beers, Ryan regaled us with stories from his very successful coaching days at NFA. It was one of my best memories of Bid’s.

The very best memory actually occurred on a Sunday afternoon in November 1985 when friends and relatives surprised me with a bachelor party at Bid’s. What could be better than three or four dozen friends, loved ones and co-workers — all guys, of course — gathered at Bid’s for an afternoon of fellowship, all that great food and beer while playing pool, watching football on TV and just having fun at our own private party with Tom LaFreniere as our host and chef. It didn’t get any better than that.

LIfe at Bid’s was easygoing, and in all the times I had gone there, whether at night or a Saturday afternoon (they were closed on Sundays), there was never even a hint of trouble. The grill was at the far end of the bar, where Tom and Betty could see most of the patrons, always engaging them in friendly banter.

In the front of the tavern were all kinds of things for sale — yard equipment, used golf clubs, 20 pound bags of potatoes and pickled eggs, to name just a few.

For most of its years, patrons could order beer, soda or water — no hard liquor. One day, however, a sign written in black magic marker on the cardboard back of a legal pad appeared above the bar, where it had been affixed with tape. The sign announced: Now Serving “Chablis.” Beneath the announcement in parentheses it explained that “Chablis” was white wine. And so a new era at Bid’s had begun.

The cost of the food and beer is more today, obviously, than it was in the 1970s and 1980s when I frequented Bid’s, but no one seems to mind. A visit to the reunion will surely bring back fond memories of better times at a friendly little place where everybody knew your name. Hope to see you there!

Bill Stanley, a former vice president at L+M Hospital, grew up in Norwich.