About 4,000 people attended Immaculate Conception Catholic Church’s parish picnic last weekend – the largest crowd at the event in the past seven years or longer, organizer Wendy Haglin said.
“It was busy from beginning to end,” Haglin said.
She said the event, which ran from May 19-21, included lots of free activities, which may have contributed to the large crowds.
“We have the petting zoo, balloon artist and inflatables,” she said. “It may have been that or the (generally good) weather conditions.”
While the weather conditions were better than for recent picnics, there was a light, steady rain on the first night of the picnic.
However, those wet conditions on May 19 didn’t seem to impact the attendance much.
“The people stayed,” she said. “(The rain) wasn’t enough to shut off any of the rides. They stayed around and acted like it wasn’t happening. That was positive. My husband (Preston) and I have been in charge of this for seven years, and every year, one day or the other, it rains.
“Once we got the rain out of the way (on May 19) and it was not a bad night, we felt positive because we knew the weather would be better the next day.”
Haglin said there was a steady crowd throughout the second day.
“We had a full park the entire day,” she said.
Haglin said the picnic raised more than $10,000, which will go into the parish’s general operating funds.
Knocker ball, which has participants get into oversized inflated balls and compete in a soccer match, was just one of the free activities held during the picnic.
“I feel like we try very hard to keep it inexpensive so people can afford to come,” Haglin said. “I feel like we did that very well.”
The parish had a free bubble cannon for one hour during the second day of the picnic, and it was so popular organizers plan to increase that time next year.
“We had it run from 6-7 p.m. when the crowd is bigger. The kids loved it,” she said. “Next year, we will probably have it from 2-3 p.m. and 6-7 p.m.”
Another new feature at the picnic was a cornhole tournament, operated by Daddin & Baggin.
Haglin said 19 teams of two participated in the tournament, but as of Monday, she did not know who won and how much prize money was handed out.
Haglin said the parish plans to hold the tournament again next year.
“The company was great, and they ran everything,” she said. “We probably made $400 or $500 off it. It is a good deal for us. Plus, there is no way to know what (the tournament participants) spent at the picnic.”
Haglin said the best part of the two-day event was the large number of children who attended.
“There were a ton of kids there, and they stayed all day,” she said. “It must have been good.”