GREENE – Greene’s Annual Labor Day Picnic has long helped celebrate the end of summer. This year’s event, which will take place on Monday, marks the 89th year of the picnic.
While the annual event has evolved since the first picnic was held in 1919, the spirit of community and family behind it has remained the same.
This year’s participants will enjoy midway rides, an antique car show, old-timers baseball game, the fourth annual Lions Club Duck Race, live entertainment and much more.
The event, planned by the Greene Labor Day Picnic Association, gets bigger and bigger each year. “We keep the basis of it the same, but keep adding,” said Byron Miller, the association’s president.
The association’s hard-working group of volunteers start making phone calls in January and serious planning in June for the event, which draws close to 10,000 visitors.
“It’s 110 percent all volunteer time,” said Miller. “The community pulls together to get this done.”
According to Miller, sports teams from Greene Central Schools, area churches, local service organizations and scouting groups are just some of the groups and organizations that make the event possible. These volunteers man everything from cotton candy booths, concessions, ring tosses and concessions.
But the proceeds don’t go into the coffers of each organization. “All the money done on the field gets turned over to the association,” Miller said. The only exception being the chicken barbecue sponsored by the Greene Council of Churches.
“All the money stays in the local community,” added the association president. Once the events expenses are covered, the net proceeds flow back into the community by way of donations. According to Miller, the Labor Day Picnic Association donated roughly $6,500 last year to various organizations including $3,500 to fund the Joint Recreation Committee’s summer youth programs.
There have been many changes to the event in the last nine decades. Back in the halcyon days of the village’s youth, picnic-goers used horse drawn ferries to cross the Chenango River on their way to the picnic site, around three miles from downtown on Stillwater Road. Now families can park at the Great American and be shuttled free of charge to the Greene Ball Flats, where most of the day’s festivities will take place.
But there is a great deal of nostalgia surrounding the picnic, said Miller, who has been involved with planning the event for more than 20 years.
Many Greene residents look forward to the day-long Labor Day celebration all year. “It is quite a day for families,” said Nancy Amell, who organizes the event’s parade.
The parade will begin at 10 a.m., immediately following the downtown hose fights, which start at 8 a.m. This year’s procession will include the Greene Central School’s marching band, several floats by local businesses and community groups, at least 40 antique cars and tractors and fire trucks from the Greene, Genegantslet, Coventry and Brisben fire departments.
Amell has chosen to dedicate this year’s parade in memory of George Adams. The Chenango Bridge resident participated in the parade for many years before his death. “His family was very pleased that we are going to dedicate the parade to him.” Amell said.
Working on the event is a labor of love for Amell. “I enjoy seeing how excited the community is and how much it has grown over the years.”
Admission to the Ball Flats, where many of the day’s activities will take place from 10 a.m. until the spectacular pyrotechnic display at dark, is free. Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable item for the Greene Food Pantry or school supplies for the Stuff-A-Bus program.