The Veterans of Union County have been overwhelmed by the amount of community support they have received since announcing the Veterans Appreciation Family Picnic to be held on Saturday November 9! Businesses and individuals have offered to help with so much…from crewing to cooking to donating door prizes. Thank you so much, Union County. It has meant a lot to the Veterans who have been planning this event. It is going to be so much more fun because of your input and assistance.

33 Diner has donated chicken nuggets as well as two gift certificate for $25 each for door prizes! The American Legion Post 212 donated 8 pork butts as well as cash to pay for extras. Angela Connor-Murphy has provided a Kate Spade designer purse. And AutoZone gave the Veterans a bucket of Ultimate Care Care products as well as a Duralast 22 piece socket wrench set.

For those of you who do a little welding, Bar M Welding Supply provided several welding accessories. And if you have had a stressful day, an injury or recovering from surgery, a massage from Choose Your Path to Healing might be exactly what you need! The young’uns will enjoy Face Painting by Kimberly Dunn-Way and Kid Games with Becky Luthman. And what picnic would be complete without Cornhole and Horseshoes brought to you by members of the American Legion 212. Union County non-profits have always benefited from the support of Food City and manager Scott Inklebarger and we cannot thank them enough for their continued support.

When a couple of volunteers stepped up and offered to cover the logistics of moving a large tent from the Chapel to Wilson Park as well as the smokin’ of the pork butts, well… it just made the planning go more smoothly. Thank you so much, Anonymous Volunteer and Crew! And a Mystery Donor added another 18 pork butts to smoke. That is a total of 26 pork butts! Y'all better be hungry! Speaking of hungry, everyone loves Lil’ Jo’s BBQ (even if they get fried fish or pizza) and the two gift certificates for Lil’ Jo’s would be a welcome prize for anyone in the county. And what would we do without Martin Shaffer the Sign Guy who crafts the plaques for our Veterans Wall for free. His skill and tools have made many a sign for that Wall. Two beautiful pieces of Woodburning Art from Mountain Air Farm will be offered as two of the door prizes. They would look great hanging in any home. The big door prize of the day is a 32” TV donated by Tim Cate of 3 Nails Grace Handyman and Construction.

And musicians!! Donating their time and talent to entertain us for the whole event. First up, Country artist Will Shepard from 11:00-1:00 followed by our own Country Gospel musician Harley Martin from 1:00-3:00. How lucky are we? There was an issue of how to keep the drinks cold. We would need ice…but what to put it in??? Sure, ice chests…but how many would there need to be?? Well, Union Farmer’s Co-op stepped up with some water/feeding troughs that will hold all the ice we can get and keep LOTS of drinks cold! The Winery at Seven Springs Farm! What a wonderful success story and how lucky we are to have such community-focused farmers in our county. And one lucky winner will get a bottle of their wonderful wine!

Thank you one and all for all that you have done and are doing to support the Veterans Appreciation Picnic on this Veterans Day weekend. Because of the generosity of our friends and neighbors, everything at this picnic is free (food is first-come/first-served from 11:30-1:00). See y’all there! And bring a chair if you can!