Back in the early 60’s the Welland Fair was a cool place to hang out. Back then it was held at the old Fair grounds on Denistoun Street and it was not uncommon to see several green Frat jackets there every evening that the fair was operating. On one of those evenings Frat Brother Bill Berencsi (pictured here) made his way into the bingo tent and sat down to try his luck. We’re not sure why a Frat Brother would find himself in a bingo tent, but it turned out to be a fortunate event for everyone.
As it would happen, Bill won a bingo game and was given a ticket that he could redeem for any one of a selection of prizes. A small camera caught Bill’s eye and he surrendered his winning ticket for a new, but cheap, camera. Again, we’re not sure why a Frat Brother would find himself attracted to a camera, but this too turned out to be a fortunate event for everyone.
No one realized it at the time but Bill would soon become the official photographer and historian for Upsilon Psi Omega. Consequently, from those two fortunate, but unexplained events, we were able to build a Frat web site today and sustain the many great memories he was able to capture with his prize camera.
It would have been nice to have more pictures of our dances but as Bill puts it “bringing a camera to a dance was not a cool or even smart thing to do.”
We are all indebted to Bill for having the foresight to build an Upsilon Psi Omega scrap book and for being geeky enough to play bingo and select a camera for his jackpot.