When Helen Loftin saw an advertisement on the city website to rent a transit bus for $140 per hour, she thought it was a screaming good deal and it also happened to be just in time for her mother’s 90th birthday.
“I had already told the family that I would host my mom’s 90th birthday party so I thought, 'what do I do?'” said Loftin.
So she swooped the deal for two hours and invited her parents, 89-year-old Jim Corcoran and 90-year-old Cleo Corcoran, her cousins from BC, her six siblings, their kids and grandkids to a total of 32 people for a surprise party in the transit bus to tour the historic sites of Guelph as one big family on April 27.
“When they heard it was my mom’s 90th, they flew out,” says Loftin about her cousins from BC.
“It was wonderful. It was multi-generational and it was multi-provincial. To mom, it was her kids, her grandkids, and her great grandkids.”
The bus driver, Patrick Allen, picked up the family from Loftin’s house at 1 p.m.
The family members sat in a transit bus that read ‘Special' as they sang and laughed in the bus around the city as Allen drove around and made stops to The Riverside Park, McCrae House, Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate, the Boathouse and the bridge beside it.
“The driver was awesome. He was just so awesome,” says Loftin.
“We got onto the bridge and we took a couple of group shots. It was hilarious because we all wanted to be in the photo and we filled the whole width of the bridge,” says Loftin.
Loftin says her entire family - including herself - is from Toronto and when she moved to Guelph in December 2018, she immediately loved it.
She even got on the microphone during the ride and gave the family a tour of the city and saw that they were fascinated.
“I'll tell you, my family loved Guelph,” says Loftin.
“It was a rocking party. Everybody was in a great mood.”
As for her mother, Loftin says she was a real trooper.
“It was a total surprise and it was just wonderful having the whole family there. I enjoyed it so much,” says Corcoran.
Originally from South Africa, Corcoran came to Canada in the 50s.
“I didn't have a large family out there so we sort of created a wonderfully large and loving family so I am very blessed. I really am,” says Corcoran.
“I love this country that I’ve come to, I feel like a true Canadian. So everything so far so good. I’m happy to wake up every day.”
After the tour, Allen dropped the family back to the Loftin home around 3 p.m.
“It was a total surprise and it was just wonderful having the whole family,” says Corcoran.
“They were a great bunch, they are a wonderful family and I am so proud of them.”