These people think they’re having the greatest picnic ever, but they’re not. Photo by Joe Shlabotnik.
The West Side Rag turns three years old next week, and to celebrate we want to have a big picnic with readers. But not just any picnic. On Saturday, May 10, we want to have The Greatest Picnic Ever.
What does The Greatest Picnic Ever entail?
Our plan for the picnic is for each of our readers to bring a special treat and share it with their neighbors. The treat should be a food or drink item that you can buy at a local store (it can be a large store like Whole Foods or Fairway or a small restaurant). And we’d like it to be a food that you crave. Don’t hold back. Bring the food you order after a miserable day, the food you hide from your spouse because you don’t even want to admit that you eat it. Don’t bring alcohol however, because it’s not legal in city parks.
UPDATE: THE PICNIC IS POSTPONED, BUT WE WILL CELEBRATE AT EMERALD INN ON SATURDAY. MORE HERE.
But, you ask, how can I possibly buy enough to share with everyone?
Good question. That seems impossible, so we’re just asking you to bring a couple of portions, enough for the people near you. No one will get to eat everything, but it would be nice if people felt free to try other people’s food.
If nothing else, this will allow us to compile a list of foods that people in the neighborhood love. Also, we want to meet our readers, and what better way than at a picnic?
To help us plan, fill out the form below explaining what you plan to bring. Once you type it in and submit your answer, the food item will show up in a spreadsheet that you can see (it won’t have your name on it).
The full spreadsheet is also linked here.
Don’t worry if you’re bringing the same food as someone else. And if you want to bring some watermelon or homemade chicken salad instead of a store-bought item, that’s fine too.
Our plan is to have the picnic on Saturday, May 10 starting at noon in Sheep Meadow. We’ll have blue balloons to help you find us. (If it’s set to rain that day, we’ll let people know about a rain date in advance.)
If the form isn’t working, feel free to write your entry in the comments. And even if you don’t want to bring anything, please feel free to show up anyway and say hi.
This is a GREAT idea. West Side Rag is my go to publication for learning about my neighborhood.
I love it that you are planning a picnic.
You guys ROCK
Where’s the spreadsheet?
You should see a link to it after you submit your answer.
I didn’t see a link to the spreadsheet after I submitted my answer, but, in any case, shouldn’t it be see-able before so that one can make an educated decision about what one wants to contribute?
Good point, thanks. We’ve added a link in the article. You can also access it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap4RwKv4S-PhdExkbjY4bDg1cTg4enlwaWYtMFl3OXc#gid=0
Excellent. Thanks.
I will bring a fruit platter! Hello Summer!!