Glenora community unites for the annual ‘Picnic in the Park’

By Mathew White

GLENORA — On a sunny afternoon, there’s nothing better than a picnic in the park.

At least that was the feeling in the Glenora community Saturday as hundreds of people came together for the annual ‘Picnic in the Park.’

“It’s sort of our focal point of the summer,” said Pam Wojcicki, director of hall rentals with the Glenora community. “Everybody gets together and you just kind of hang out.”

The ‘Picnic in the Park’ event has been going on in the Glenora community for more than 20 years.  What started out as a simple way to bring the community together has now grown into a full-blown festival.

“It became a little carnival and it grew and grew until one year we had 750 people,” said Wojcicki.

Families of all shapes and sizes could be seen joining in the fun on Saturday.  The Boomtown Sound filled the park with classical music as others enjoyed the pony rides, balloon animals, a bouncy-house, popcorn and a three-on-three basketball tournament.

This year’s picnic also coincided with the unveiling of the new Glenora playground and spray park, a project that’s been roughly three years in the making.

CTV’s own Graham Neil was on site for the official ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday.  After thanking all those who made the playground possible, the ribbon was cut and a ceremonious rock dedicated to the project’s largest donors was also unveiled.

Now, although the playground was officially opened Saturday, it has been open to the public for some time now, and residents are already seeing the positives.

“Every night of the week you’ll see at least one family here, if not five or six,” said Colleen Weremczuk, social coordinator with the Glenora community and one of the three organizers of this year’s picnic.  “It’s just a nice place to come together.”

Weremczuk has been a resident of Glenora for more than a decade. She said it’s her love for this community that drove her to help put on this year’s ‘Picnic in the Park.’

“There’s a lot of people in the neighbourhood that are just really good people,” said Weremczuk.  “I’ve basically grown up with my kids here and when you have young children it’s nice to have a place to connect to people.”

“I’ve lived in other areas of the city and I feel like this is my home.”

Weremczuk also said that while the picnic brings residents together, it also brings businesses together as well, something that only helps strengthen the community even further.