Picnic 2008 Wrapup!

Your Slaves Host's for the 2008 Membership Picnic!!

The 495th R/C Squadron, Inc. held it's annual member picnic on Saturday Sept. 13th, 2008 after being rained-out the previous weekend. In spite of a gloomy forecast all week, the day turned out to be an absolutely beautiful, sunny, warm, day. The annual picnic is one of the most popular, and highly anticipated, events in the Club calendar each year, and this years' event was one of the best! In spite of the rain date, the event was very well attended, and a great time was had by all!!

Beginning at 10AM, there was a constant buzz of activity at the Ogonowski Memorial Flying Field virtually all day long. Some of the highlights of the day include:

Intro Pilot Flying
Static Model Display
Helicopter Aerobatic Demo
Combat Flying
Candy Drop
Huge Raffle (sponsored by Bill's Hobby Barn of Salem, NH)
Huge Family Style Picnic

The Annual Membership Picnic

For the past few years, the club has decided to return to the concept of a "family style" picnic by hosting a barbeque at the picnic. This effort is a lot of work, but ultimately helps to create a family atmosphere that is more in keeping with the mission of the 495th R/C Squadron, Inc. Besides, it is a lot of fun!! The picnic could not have been possible without the help of these dedicated members:

Picnic Committee

John Morley - Food Purchase & Cooking & Candy Drop
Paul Gosselin - Food Purchase & Cooking
Bill Lentine: Cooking
B.J. and Laura Sokolowski: Cooking
Rick Breton: Sound System
Jim Thompsom: Raffle & Intro Flying
Andrew Merlino: Heli Demo & Intro Flying
Bob Merlino: Event Setup
Bob Goulet: Cooking
Dave Silva: Grill Pickup/Dropoff

The final food consumption tally for the picnic was: 200 hamburgers, 200 hotdogs, 60 pieces of chicken, 60 bags of potato chips, 3 bags of salad, 160 cookies,  and 16 cases of soda! Wow, you should have seen that BJ's basket!!

Note: I know that I have surely forgotten to list some of the people that helped to make this picnic such a great success!! I assure you that any omission on my part was purely accidental, and no offense should be taken! I will correct any omission that is brought to my attention as soon as possible.

A special thanks to Bill's Hobby Barn of Salem, NH for sponsoring the raffle at the 2008 Club Picnic!! Bill's Hobby Barn is a tremendous local resource, so please pay them a visit!!

Complete photo coverage of the 2008 Club Picnic can be found in the Gallery!!

Submitted by: John Morley
Posted: Sept. 15, 2008