[vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]For those who didn’t read Monday’s post, I’m Brittany Thomas, the person who “coordinated every aspect of the highly attended Picnic” that happened this past Saturday at the Harford Fairgrounds.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Except that’s not entirely true.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I did take the point on coordinating the Picnic, but it sure as heck wasn’t single-handedly. This Picnic came together through the hard work, tactical planning and problem solving skills of dozens of individuals and many, many more who were able to lend a hand throughout the whole process.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]And so, this is my space to take the time to issue the much-deserved thanks to all who helped out in any way possible. Brace yourselves. This is going to be a long blog post.

• The External Affairs team
  • Maybe I’m a little bit biased, but these folks did a hell of a job planning & executing this Picnic. George Stark is the mastermind behind the idea of even having a Picnic. He planned the first Picnic (with a little help – but we’ll get there later) then passed the torch to Janice Lobdell, Landman/External Affairs team member extraordinaire. Janice not only planned the Picnic the 2nd year, but moved to a completely different location – the Harford Fair Grounds. This was the first Picnic I attended and I remember being blown away by how many people attended. It was from her set of blueprints, connections & suggestions that the 3rd Annual Picnic was born. As if that wasn’t enough, Janice stayed on board this year to coordinate the delicious food served and help organize the Cabot Land area. Next time you see her, say thanks for that hamburger you enjoyed and for creating the skeleton of this year’s Picnic.
  • Bill (Sir Williams, as I refer to him) desRosiers joined the team in May and hit the ground running with this Picnic by reaching out to get other great community organizations (Special Olympics, NARO, etc.) involved and is responsible for those great Baskets of Susquehanna that we raffled off. Plus about a million other things like waking up at 5 am to help move tables and trouble shooting during the event. Without Bill, I would have been crushed by about 50 boxes of Cabot bags.
  • Samantha Scribner is our beloved External Affairs Intern who in addition to her regular duties such as writing and posting blogs and creating content, jumped head first into Picnic preparations. She created these lovely boards displaying all of the donors to the EMHS Match Fund, helped do the heavy lifting at all hours leading up to the Picnic and worked in the Cabot External Affairs area. Sam put her heart into every task and exceeded expectations. We’ll be sad to see her go next month, but are thrilled she’ll be out in the real world. (She comes highly recommended if you’re looking to hire someone…)
• Every Cabot employee present
  • I received more compliments than I knew what to do with during the Picnic about the Cabot employees present. This looks like a good place to post a few:
    • “Easy to talk to and get straight answers.”
    • “Find a way to break the explanation down so I could understand.”
    • “Extremely patient with my questions which I really appreciated.”
  • In addition, I’d like to give a huge thank you to everyone who helped with setup in their area, those who helped set up the nonprofit areas and those who helped to tear everything down at the end. We’d still be there right now if not for you.
• GasSearch Drilling Services
  • GDS stepped up in a HUGE way for the Picnic this year. But let’s be serious, they step up in a big way for everything they do. In addition to being one of the companies that was cooking (in shiny new grills, no less) they also had some amazing equipment on display. And they became an army to lend much-needed manpower to the Picnic setup and the event overall. Helping to hand out bags to 7,000 people is a tough task, but they handled it quite well. Thanks, guys!
• Condron & Company
  • As a full service advertising agency based in Scranton, this team has been involved since the very first Picnic. Most recently, they helped us pull off this massive event. Everyone from the President of the company, Phil Condron, to their summer intern, Maura Olsewski, pitched in to design signage for around the Picnic, supervise the stage area and create some fabulous visuals for every Cabot area. Vice President, John Cosgrove, has been there since the first days of planning providing valuable input. Truly, this event would not have been possible without their help.
• Our eyes & ears
  • Also on hand for the entire event were the White Knight Productions team taking valuable footage of the event and Van Zandbergen Photography to capture every exhibitor and every moment. I’ll post the photos next Tuesday, and keep an eye out for the 2012 Cabot Picnic video.
• Harford Fairgrounds Staff
  • The hosts with the most(s). Between the million and one questions and planning the locations of the dumpsters, this staff was wonderful in every sense of the word. Thanks to all of you for the wonderful assistance, advice and hospitality you’ve shown over the past few months. It’s all very, very appreciated.
• Taylor Rental
  • What do 250 tables,  a golf cart, three 100′ x 40′ tents, a dunk tank, two popcorn machines and 15 power cords have in common? They all came from the good folks at Taylor Rental, who basically emptied NEPA of every folding chair in a 150 mile radius. (If you were trying to plan a graduation party, my deepest apologies.) Bill, Billy, Mark and all of the fantastic team members at Taylor Rental not only secured the equipment, but they put it up and had everything in fine working order. And they lent us a beautiful light up sign for outside of the Montrose office to advertise the Picnic. Could you ask for better people to work with? Rhetorical question – the answer is no.
• Montrose Septic
  • This one falls under the category of only thinking about things when something goes wrong. Despite a minor bathroom disturbance during the Picnic, Montrose Septic was able to get us back up and running and deliver some of those lovely blue portable rest rooms as backup. When you have to go…
• Our generous partners
  • We had several of our partners step up during the Picnic in big ways. In alphabetical order, a great big thank you to:
    • Baker-Hughes – On Friday while they were setting up their tent, I was approached and informed that they had bought not one but four mountain bikes to raffle off in addition to the pre-planned prizes. I know they made some little kids very happy with their very first bikes. That blue one was pretty sweet…
    • Big Brothers Big Sisters – If you ever have 7,000 people coming to an event and need to hand out materials to each and every one of them, call BBBS. They returned from the previous year to hand out the Picnic Passport, the insulated Cabot bags and the informational packet to everyone who came in through the gates.
    • Diaz Companies – We decided early on that we should definitely recycle everything possible. Except it wasn’t until the day before the Picnic that we decided how to do it. Diaz was kind enough to bring two recycling dumpsters in and take them out after the event. Saving the environment and my backside, all in one swift move.
    • Montrose High School Marching Band – I can safely say that this is one of the most hard-working groups I have ever seen. They made funnel cakes to pass out during the event and then switched tasks to manage the trash and recycle bins around the area. These kids were non-stop from the very beginning and did a wonderful job.
    • Montrose Lion’s Club – One of the last-minute additions, but one of the most valuable. These gentlemen manned the Passport Information area to explain away just how to win that iPad. Plus, they had a row of cookies around their entire area. It’s possible that they were the most popular people at the fair grounds.
    • Rain for Rent – They are the reason your feet weren’t half as muddy in the Industry Exhibitor area as they could have been. They laid down their non-slip black mats and turned the area from Mud Wrestle Mania ’13 into a rather pleasant trip down black rubber road.
    • Selman & Associates – If you had asked me what the Cabot Geology tent looked like a day before the Picnic, I wouldn’t have had anything to tell you other than “big.” That’s because Jay Jones and his wonderful team from Selman planned, rented and assembled one of the best maze-like tents I’ve ever seen. They did a heck of a job representing the geological side of Cabot AND they were handing out the day’s most popular giveaway: a drawstring bag stuffed with goodies. You can’t beat that.
    • TREHAB – TREHAB came in for the Picnic as a vendor and set up in the Kids’ area to show off their shiny transportation van. And then they really helped us out by taking the extra food back to the food bank for distribution. We’re very glad it all went to a location to be given out to those in need.
    • True Friends Animal Welfare Center – Our wonderful car-parking team. Without them, it would have been absolute chaos in the parking area. Or demolition derby. Which isn’t a bad idea for an event at the next Picnic, come to think of it.

Again, thank you to everyone named above. And thank you to the countless people who helped out in other ways. We look forward to working with you all again and making the 4th Annual Cabot Community Picnic even bigger and better than this year![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Brittany Thomas – Coordinator, External Affairs[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]