Despite the Heat, Rocky Ridge’s Big Picnic Tradition Carries On

Nicholas DiGregory The thirteenth day of August 2016 was the epitome of a sweltering summer day in North Central Maryland. As early as ten o’clock in the morning, the temperature had reached 90 degrees and was still climbing. By noon, the thermometers came to rest at 95 degrees, although weather services stated that the high humidity, and almost nonexistent breeze, caused the air to feel as if it was a burning 108 degrees. While this intense heat was more than enough to keep most folks inside, the locals of Rocky Ridge and the surrounding areas braved the sweltering weather to celebrate the annual Big Picnic at Mount Tabor Park. The Big Picnic, an event hosted by the Mount Tabor Park Board to raise funding for the day-to-day upkeep and maintenance of the park, has been an annual occurrence for almost a century. According to Rocky Ridge residents, the first big celebration on the grounds of Mount Tabor Park happened in 1925, when the first paved road between Thurmont and Rocky Ridge was completed. The park, which had been entrusted to the Mount Tabor Church community in 1919, was selected as the ideal place to hold the festivities, celebrating the finished roadway. The following year, in 1926, the Mount Tabor Church community commemorated the road completion with a big picnic, and ever since then, the Mount Tabor Park Big Picnic has been Rocky Ridge’s annual tradition. This year’s Big Picnic was comprised of a baby show (see list of winners below), a car show, and country rock music provided by the Maryland-based band JR Country Rock. The picnic kicked off at noon, with the first event being the baby show at 1:00 p.m. Travis Sanders of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, the president of the Mount Tabor Park Board, emceed the show. Twenty-eight babies, all under the age of two years, were registered for the show. The contestants were separated into five categories by age, and for each age group, a panel of three judges awarded the cutest boy and girl, as well as the chubbiest baby. Two additional awards were given to the youngest baby and to the baby who traveled the furthest distance. After the conclusion of the baby show, awards were given to the top ten best cars in the car show, which was sponsored and conducted by the Golden Gears Car Club of Frederick. Sanders emceed the awards ceremony, presenting commemorative plaques to the owners of the top ten most popular cars at the show, as voted by all of the picnic attendees. Over two dozen cars were present at the show, representing over eighty years of automobiles from eight different automakers. The Big Picnic concluded with a concert by local band JR Country Rock. The band played country, classic rock, and southern rock hits until around 9:00 p.m., when the picnic ended. All proceeds from the Big Picnic go toward the daily upkeep and gradual development of Mount Tabor Park. Richard Dinterman, who has attended the Big Picnic since childhood and now volunteers at the Mount Tabor Park, said that the park is kept open primarily because of fundraisers like the Big Picnic. “There isn’t hardly a day that we don’t open the gate to the park, from January 1 on throughout the year, and there are almost always people waiting when we come to open it,” said Dinterman. “It’s things like the Big Picnic that help us keep doing that.” Twenty-nine babies were entered in the baby show at this year’s big picnic. Babies in each of the five age groups were judged for cuteness and chubbiness by a panel of three judges. More than two dozen classic and specialty cars were entered into the Golden Gears Car Club car show at the Big Picnic. This year marked the third time that Golden Gears sponsored and organized the car show for the Big Picnic.