Annual Shelby County Senior Picnic sees largest turnout ever

Published 3:52 pm Monday, April 29, 2024

By Donald Mottern

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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Senior citizens from across the county turned out in mass for the annual Shelby County Senior Picnic on Wednesday, April 24.

Held at the Shelby County Exhibition Center in Columbiana, this year’s Senior Picnic and Spring Fling saw one the largest turnouts in the event’s history.

The event included residents brought in from across all 14 of the major senior centers within Shelby County and also invited every member of the community over the age of 55 to stop in. Running from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shelby County’s seniors partook in a day of togetherness and socialization in one of the largest county events of the year.

“This year’s Senior Picnic was wonderful, and we had our largest registration for the event that we have ever had,” said Mindy Dent, manager of community services with Shelby County. “We served nearly 1,000 senior citizens over the course of the event.”

Those who chose to partake in the gathering were met with food supplied by Tin Top BBQ in Columbiana, which carries the reputation as being a community staple in the barbecue scene. While food was being served and fellowship fostered, the day’s entertainment also got underway and offered seniors the chance to get involved and moving.

“For entertainment we had the Shelby County High School Show Choir and line dancing led by Barbara Traywick—(which) she teaches at several of the local senior centers,” Dent said. “We also had R&B music by BT Collective there at the picnic as well.”

Outside of the food and musical elements, the Senior Picnic also featured a return of the vendor expo which featured more than 40 vendor and event sponsor booths that filled the area.

Sponsors for the event helped to ensure that the event remained free for all seniors to attend and also worked to help supply food items and cover all of the costs associated with the day’s gathering.

The list of those sponsors included:

  •  Discover Shelby
  •  Publix
  •  Positive Maturity
  •  The Shelby County Reporter
  •  O’Kelley Architecture
  •  M4A
  •  Shelby County Arts Council

“This event is a great opportunity for our county employees and local partners to be able to serve our community and senior citizens,” Dent said. “It is important for us to serve our senior citizens not only with the resources available to them throughout our county, but to also have some fun—with food, music and dancing.”

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