Annual Pioneer Picnic to return to civic center
Is there a friend you haven’t been in touch with for years? Want to reminisce about some of the happiest times of your life with someone you went to school with?
The Pioneer Club of Lee County will hold its annual Pioneers Picnic on Saturday, April 29, at the Lee Civic Center’s Tinsley Pavilion, located off Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers.
Registration and visiting begin at 10 a.m. and lunch will be served at noon, followed by presentations and a raffle at 1 p.m.
Theresa Clements, publicity director for the club, said they are expecting a bigger turnout this year despite the questions of whether the Lee Civic Center would even be able to hold it.
“We were wondering whether the pavilion would be able to hold it after what happened with Ian. The pavilion is fine,” Clements said. “We have had lots of inquiries from people coming up on living here for 50 years and joining the picnic. There’s been a lot of support and interest.”
The Pioneer Club of Lee County is a social organization composed of many of the old families of Lee County who get together annually to catch up on one another’s lives and to have lunch together.
It was founded in 1949 by R.A. Henderson Jr. and was formed to honor those living persons who had been residents of old Lee County for fifty or more years. The initial meeting was held in 1950 at the Lions Park on Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers.
The classes of 1973 from Evangelical Christian School, and Alva, Bishop Verot, Cypress Lake, Dunbar, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, and Riverdale high schools will be recognized at the picnic as celebrating their 50-year class reunions.
Riverdale will also be celebrating its 50th year as will Evangelical Christian, which both started in 1973, Clements said.
Last year’s event honored the high school classes of 1970 through 1972, as the picnic was cancelled for two years because of the pandemic.
Also recognized will be the eldest pioneer man and woman born in Lee County; the couple married the longest (both spouses need to be in attendance); the pioneer who traveled the longest distance to the picnic; and the oldest person in attendance.
Approximately 1,200 invitations are mailed out for the picnic, of which two-thirds are sent to residents and the remainder to those who live out of the area. There are normally between 600 and 700 people in attendance.
Clements said the event serves as kind of an annual high school class reunion, where people who haven’t seen each other for years can reunite and catch up or reminisce about their high school days.
Clements said she was in a family with 11 children, all of whom went to Fort Myers High School, and whose friends overlapped.
“It’s such a lovely thing. It’s an annual gathering of people that is important for the legacy and history of Lee County,” Clements said. “It’s southern hospitality that turns into a family reunion.”
Preregistration is not mandatory and there are no membership fees to join, Clements said. The eligibility requirement for membership is that the person was a resident of Lee County prior to 1973.
Barbecue chicken or pork, baked beans, coleslaw, rolls, chocolate chip cookies and iced tea or lemonade are available to the attendees for $10 per plate.
As a bonus, free admission on that weekend is given to the members of the Pioneer Club by presenting their membership card to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, IMAG History & Science Center and the Shell Factory & Nature Park (all general admission) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
To receive registration information, you can email pioneerleecounty@gmail.com, or you may register the day of the picnic.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com