8:00AM Sunday, June 5th:
Nice cool morning at Cherokee Park. Joe and I dragged 5 picnic tables under the giant trees to put everything under shade, expecting a blazing afternoon. People started rolling in about 10:30, and I put on the first of 60+ hotdogs on the grill. The crowd grew steadily and we had about 30 by 1:00PM. The tables were piled high with food with lots of homemade goodies, fruits and snacks. It stayed overcast most of the day, and about 3:00PM it lightly sprinkled for about 3 minutes, but the rain threat was enough to send some people packing anyway. By the end of the day, a total of 54 people came. Ivan set up a lovely altar at the base of a huge tree. Rachael brought a cornhole set, but we didn't get enough people to do a tournament like we had planned. Do Pagans not play cornhole? Next year we'll have a Pagan cornhole set ready, maybe that will help! Jack had a few bikes there to do the "Blessing of the Bikes" at 4:00PM. The drum circle tried to start up a few times but needed more players to really take off. Everyone was happy it never got blistering hot, and even cooled down after the rain to make some of us not wanting to leave! Sharon did some great face paintings towards the end. The short closer had 11 people. LPPD collected $36 in donations. Thanks to everyone who attended, shared food, and labored to make the 4th LPPD picnic a success!

Mike Avery

Photos of the picnic available here.