Our Annual Picnic  took place on Tuesday, August 2, 2022 at the Stone Building. (The next one will be this coming August, 2023.)

More than two dozen attendees brought their picnic baskets, food and beverages. The Friends supplied a grill, utensils for the grill, chairs, picnic benches. Music and a PA was kindly provided by Chris Pitts. We gathered under our new custom pop-up shelter. The weather was hot but there was a cooling breeze. We enjoyed our new bench (see below) and Seana Gaherin generously provided beverages for everyone to enjoy.

At this event we had our long delayed dedication of the new roof on the Stone Building and a ceremony to recognize Representative RUTH BALSER for making the new roof possible and for all the additional effort she has put in to supporting our efforts to maintain the Stone Building and the Park.

Among these have been the new roof on on the Stone Building, the Ellis Street Echo Bridge staircase (see below), the crosswalks project (see below), the new sidewalk connecting the Ellis Street parking lot to the stone building, a $75,000 appropriation that she secured last year that is going to be applied to an engineering study of the foundation of the Stone Building. At this year’s picnic, she announced that she has also procured an appropriation in excess of $200,000 to be applied to repairs that will be needed to maintain the structural integrity of the stone building.

We were delighted to award Rep. Balser one of our framed portraits of Hemlock Gorge created by Evan Weststrate, and Vaunita Schnell gave her a bouquet of sunflowers.

Here’s one photo of the event. More photos will be posted soon. A photo album of some of our other picnics over the years is available here.

Other attendees included Paul Roberts, Robin Dexter, Chris Pitts, Lee Fisher, Emily Gelbert, Don Ross, Vaunita Schnell, Bob Burke, Rena Getz, Bob’s sister, Sheila Purdy, Dr. John, Andreae Downs, Katherine Howard, Jean Fisher, Ellen Katz, and Jerry Riley.