The ninth annual All County Picnic’s “Picnic in Place” was a success for organizers and picnickers alike, as 20 different neighborhoods participated in the event. 

The picnic event on Saturday, Aug. 21 involved The Production Alliance, a nonprofit organization, partnering with the Jefferson County Department of Energy Management, and Local 20/20’s Neighborhood Preparedness Action Group to hand out food and inform the public on emergency preparedness. They distributed more than 500 to-go bags along with corn on the cob at Blue Heron Middle School to participating neighborhoods. 

The corn on the cob is a tradition, according to Megan Claflin, the alliance’s director of development. Corn on the cob has been the go-to food to hand out to picnickers since the picnic’s inception. The event was started to bring awareness to emergency preparedness, and to inform the public on community points of distribution if a natural disaster were to occur. 

“The original vision was to take the scary parts out of emergency preparedness,” Claflin said. It “is kind of like a community party.”

All 20 neighborhoods had separate picnics, rather than one large picnic, to counter potential spread of COVID-19.

“This is still a celebration of community … of resilience,” said Daniel Milholland, the Alliance’s director of operations. “The theme and spirit are all the same, but a little different.”

For more information on the All County Picnic or other events held by The Production Alliance, visit theproductionalliance.org.