The
spirit of Norman Rockwell came to St. Wilfrid's on Labor Day weekend.
America's favorite hometown artist, known for his portrayal of American
life, lent his idyllic brush stroke to our
Parish picnic. To those who were unable to attend, let us take a look at one of his paintings.
Picture a park setting on a warm summer's day. Children running from the playground to the picnic table to check on the progress of lunch. People have placed blankets and lawn chairs throughout and the tables are covered with checkered tablecloths.
Over to the right of the painting, people are paring up for an old fashioned game of softball. Next to them, a suitcase relay race is well under way. Tucked beneath the shade of the pine trees, we see that several children's games have started and of course there is a crowd around the face-painting booth. Rockwell may have painted this scene, but the people of St. Wilfrid's were there to make it a reality.
We started with the kitchen turning out a plentiful array of old fashioned summer foods - hotdogs, hamburgers, cold potato salad and baked beans bubbling in maple syrup sauce. At the end of the table we found a large tub filled with ice and crisp watermelons. The end of the day was true Americana. We had our first pie baking contest and thirteen people toiled to make their pie a blue ribbon winner. The judges took their job seriously! They compared crust, toppings and of course overall taste. The final consensus was that all of the pies were superb, but the cream cheese pie was a favorite! A big thank-you to everyone who helped make this a wonderful day. Everyone did their part to bring a Norman Rockwell classic to life. We had an old- fashioned American picnic - and, most importantly - we enjoyed community and fellowship during this memorable event. To top it off, we lived the idyllic Rockwell picnic without having to purchase one of his prints.