The picnic that almost wasn't.
We were scheduled to have our picnic on May 17 at Lower Perkiomen Valley Park in a nice semi-enclosed pavilion. Everything was set. Food ordered. Drinks bought. Decorations ready.
Then it rained on Friday. I got a phone call in the morning from the park, saying that there was a strong possibility that the pavilion might be flooded. Panic set in! I couldn't have 35 people standing ankle deep in water.
Luckily, the staff at the Holiday Inn Express in Warminster, where I was staying, came to our rescue. I met with the Sales director, Dennis, and he was able to offer us the meeting room. I grabbed it.
Now to contact everyone. Of course, I came with just the names of the attendees - no phone numbers, e-mail addresses, or even my reunion book from last October. I got on the phone with my committee members and gave them people to contact. By early the next morning, we had contacted everyone. Special thanks to John McDonald, Tina Hollingsworth, Nancy Lyons, Judy VonGerichten, and Bonnie Mills for jumping in and getting hold of our classmates. Couldn't have done it without you!
Early on the morning of May 17, I checked the meeting room. 6 large tables were set up with long white linen tablecloths. Nice, but way too fancy for a picnic. I set out to get decorations to make this look like a picnic.
Each table was covered in either purple or gold over the white linen. Sand buckets (purple and gold of course) sat in the middle of each table. Filled with lollipops, paddle balls, leis, and water pistols. There were a few hula hoops hanging around the room. Purple and gold balloons and bows on the walls. Buckets filled with ice for the sodas, water, wine and beer. (The state park didn't permit alcohol, so this was a nice treat!) Two large tables set up for food. And oldies music from Pandora playing.
As the picnic-ers started arriving, they were put to work helping with decorations and setting up snacks. We had so many snacks, we filled both tables! More and more arrived, to whoops and hollers, especially for those that we didn't see in October.
Drinks were shared, a lot of mingling and getting together, lots of snacks. We were almost too full for the food when it arrived. Tina brought 4 or 5 big trays of hoagies and all the fixings, cookies, and a big sheet cake. Two big pans of fruit salad. More snacks. No one went hungry!
The afternoon was fun and slightly sedate until...the water pistols came out. I admit I was the first one to fill a gun and start shooting, but everyone got in the act. A few tried the hula hoops, but alas, they are not meant for folks our age. We did a 50/50 drawing to help recover the additional cost of the meeting room (thanks everyone!) and Donna Stricklin walked away with a nice bit of pocket change.
All too soon, people started leaving. Everyone helped with the clean-up, and by the end of the afternoon, the room was in great condition. I heard quite a bit of talk about another picnic next year, and I'm hoping that we can do it again.
I'll post pictures in a bit.
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