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Odds & Ends
Old-Fashioned Family Picnic
By David Jesson

Tradition can have a bad rap, but we have forgotten how some traditions have carved out our childhood experiences. The Fourth of July Picnic celebration was always a very special time for my family, probably because we lived in a neighborhood in Los Angeles that permitted fireworks. So annually, we had all our family and friends come to our house for this special day.

It is funny how we remember most the things we eat and the things we do together. I remember shopping for all the fixin's for this celebration with my dad: watermelon, hot dogs and hamburgers, fruit pies, and most of all, the things to make two huge batches of homemade vanilla ice cream. My youth group had a stand that sold fireworks, so I would spend weeks picking out just what I wanted for our traditional celebration. The big event for the older group was the annual family pinochle game, which would some times last into the wee hours. For us young folks there was a legion of games we would play, three- legged races, some with fathers and sons, uncles and nephews, moms and daughters…I can remember some family members laughing so hard they would be crying and bent over during these games. The tug-o-war was always the young boys against the adults. We never knew which way it would go, many a times the boys took the title to the surprise and ridicule of the adults. The egg toss was always a blast; though messy, it was one of the funnier ones to play and watch. I was never much good at the wheelbarrow race, but my uncle and cousin held the title for many years. Of course the balloon stomp brought out all age groups, and with some of the younger ones aim not yet that great, we always ended up with a few adults who would get their feet stomped pretty good.

One Fourth of July when I was a teenager was spent with my grandmother in Grants Pass Oregon. I thought my family was wild…until I saw the schedule of games for that day in Oregon. Cherry pie eating contests (no hands allowed), watermelon eating contest (no hands allowed), pumpkin throwing contests, log rolling, tree cutting, axe and two-man saw cutting, pole roping contests, and cow puck disk throwing contest (use your imagination). Their tug-o-war was across a muddy creek with the flag to win in the very middle. The wheelbarrow races were with real wheelbarrows, the adults had to sit in them and the kids had to maneuver them through an obstacle course. There were lots more, country music, fiddle playing contests, cherry and berry pie baking contests. I will never forget this 4th of July.

As I grew older I was working on my uncle's ranch on the border between Nevada and Idaho. This was in an Indian reservation, and Elko - the closest city - was where the 4th of July festivities took place. It was really different because, for the population of Basque descendants, it was more a celebration of liberty with Basque traditions. Every table was filled with great foods and homemade wines, and many different beers. Tradition had it that you were supposed to visit each others' tables, and the eligible bachelors were to accept and drink or eat what ever was given to you, and as you left the table you were expected to give a Basque yodel, (a yell they used to call in the sheep). After a half-dozen or more tables, the yodeling came naturally. The food and wine were plentiful. It was an experience I will never forget. The games where a lot different though: sheep shearing contests, yodeling contests, knife throwing, and hatchet throwing contests that were so traditional for them. Others ranged from yard bowling to sausage-making and chili pepper eating. But it all pointed back to one thing, a tradition that allowed us to remember the liberty that was set forth on this day.