2019 Summer Picnic: Steckel Park, Santa Paula
According to Wikipedia, a picnic is a meal taken outdoors as part of an excursion – ideally in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event, and usually in summer. Our third annual SCVCC picnic definitely fit the bill in all aspects. We had a meal. The event was outdoors, in a scenic park. It was part of an excursion with our beautiful caravan. It celebrated an event, out member appreciation. And, it was scheduled on the second day of summer. Well done Activities Committee for such attention to detail!
Since our first annual club picnic in 2017, a tradition was born and our picnic event has improved with each outing. We again held our picnic at Steckel Park, on Highway 150, north of Santa Paula. The park offers everything needed for a gathering of a club our size.
There is plenty of parking for a Corvette Corral. There are pavilions for dining and games. There is open space for competitions and plenty of shade for just hanging out. Steckel Park was the place to be on June 22 for our member appreciation event!
Events like this don’t just happen though. We don’t just show up at a designated spot for a caravan and roll into our destination with a lot of prior planning and preparation. The Activities committee and their picnic support team have been meeting and preparing for months making this one afternoon possible and our thanks go out to all who worked so hard to make our picnic a success.
As always. picnic day started early for our set-up team as they claimed our spot at Steckel Park and went about the set-up activity, once again making sure every detail matched Mark Ware’s extensive preparation spreadsheet.
At a reasonable start time of 10 AM, attendee members gathered at the designated assembly area in the Walmart lot for headcount and sign-in and payment of parking fees, eager to move on to the awaiting picnic. Light traffic allowed us to keep our 19 Corvettes together in a spectacular caravan westbound on CA 126 all the way to our destination.
Once there, we rolled into our reserved “Corvette Corral” we caravanners all witnessed the splendid set-up that was waiting for us. Both covered pavilions were decorated, game areas laid out and equipped with all types of picnic games and music was in the air.
The staff from Laird’s Butcher Shop in Santa Paula was on hand and already preparing our picnic feast as we arrived. Their cooking skills seem to improve with every event we attend in the Santa Paula area. They add to our pleasure at not only our picnics but at the Santa Paula Chevrolet bi-annual BBQ events as well. Picnic baskets of old were nice, but BBQ is a great call.
PIC 8While music played in the background, picnickers went about visiting and competition in the events on the lawn. Bocce ball, croquet, cornhole game, Jenga, bingo, and the Corvette tabletop race competition were all available. The volleyball was flat and there was no spiking this time out.
The call to eat went out and the line quickly formed to pick and choose from the Tri-tip, Chicken, sausages, and all the trimmings available for our picnic lunch. As soon as the BBQ sauce was wiped from the corners of our mouths, dessert was on everyone’s mind. With the many choices available, the blackberry pie apparently was at the top of the list and disappeared in a blink of the eye.
Throughout the afternoon, there were numerous raffle prizes given out and a nice 50-50 pot as well. All of the bases were covered!
The bottom line in this report from your writer’s point of view is that all in all, the picnic was fun, delicious and again a success. 
Besides the Activities committee it is all of the attendees who are to be thanked too for coming out and adding to the fun of the event. We appreciate each and every one who worked and played together as a club to make Picnic 2019 a fun time. Well done!
John and Sandra Macik of Santa Paula Chevrolet joined us for the event as Vette people enjoying time with other enthusiasts. It was a good opportunity to get to know John and Sandra in this casual surrounding. The Maciks previously introduced us to the BBQ served by Laird’s Butcher Shop in Santa Paula and our planners called upon their cooking skills to once again serve us an excellent picnic BBQ meal. Great call by all involved in putting together our grub and beverages!
But wait, there was more. Our band, “Drop Zone”, rocked. SCVCC’s own Chet Morse even joined the band with a great blues number! I can attest to the great selection of tunes by the band and was posed this question by member “M.C.”, “this is from your era, right?” How could I not appreciate the Rolling Stones song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”? All of us in our earlier days heard that Stones song and probably only wished we or owned a Corvette then, but looking at the parking lot, we have certainly all gotten a lot of “what we want”!
All in all, the picnic was fun, delicious and a success. We all convey our thanks and appreciation to our Activities people and their set-up crew for putting it all together and a pat on the back to all of us as well, since without each of us there would be no club. Job well done!