Williamsville Labor Day Picnic maintains tradition, benefits community

Williamsville celebrated Labor Day early over the weekend with it’s 35th Annual Labor Day Picnic.

The celebration — with activities for all ages — serves as a fundraiser for both the Williamsville Lions Club and local fire departments, which split the money raised.

Lions Club President Darrell Atchison, who has been with the organization for 25 years, said the event is based in tradition and has such hasn’t changed much over the years.

“In the beginning we had little portable tents,” Atchison said. “And over the years, between the fundraisers and the community support, we’ve built a nice little cook shack and a nice little concrete pad out there for the dancing. But really a lot of it is the same as it was years ago. Invite a few booths and the funnel cakes and all the things that make for a homecoming or carnival-type setting.”

Atchison said the picnic serves as a kind of homecoming for members of the community who come out to it every year.

“People seem to get together for the comradery and the fellowship,” he said. “The community comes together and supports it. A lot of volunteer hours go into this kind of thing.”

The Lions Club has a chairman for the event and the organization starts planning it in about February or March leading up to it. Part of the focus for it is the live entertainment.

“We’ll line up singing groups this year for next year, right now,” he said. “It takes four or five months in advance that we really start planning to get all the details together for a weekend like this.”

Another key part of the event is the food itself, he said. The menu includes pork and fish, which is cooked on the premises along with side items.

“Used to we were famous for our barbecue,” Atchison said. “Barbecue chicken. We’ve added fried fish and gotten rid of the chicken over the years.”

Along with the food and entertainment, there’s booths set up for people to play carnival-style games such as ball tossing, mini basketball and shooting games. This year, there was also two bounce houses for kids to play in, a blow up water slide for kids and adults alike and a fast-draw shooting booth for the adults.

Atchison said the event being connected to Labor Day is just a tradition since it first started.

When it comes to the goal of the event, Atchison said most of it is based around being a fundraiser for the local organizations. The Lions Club, the Black River Fire District and the Williamsville City Fire Department each receive a third of the proceeds.

Atchison said the fire departments will use the money for equipment and other supplies for the firefighters. Meanwhile, the Lions Club uses the money to help with it’s projects each year, which include providing eye glasses, offering students scholarships and other projects such as donations to the Williamsville Nutrition Center.

“Most of the proceeds go right back into the community here,” he said. “This is kind of our major fundraiser for the year so it goes to support those things I was mentioning throughout the year. What little money we earn, it always seems like there’s plenty of needs right here on the home front that use it up.”