Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487730
BY TRACIE COSTABILE A huge, heartfelt thank you to all the members who bravely disregarded the weather's call for rain and came face painting and balloon art, jumbo Connect 4, jumbo Jenga, and a large grassy field filled with every type of sports ball imaginable, as well as tetherball, frisbees, and soccer nets. Although this was intended for the kids, you know our fun-loving members were right there with them! Everyone gets to be a kid at a picnic. There was no shortage of fun for the adults, too. The smiles abounded with axe throwing, cornhole, human billiards, and the star of the day, the Alpine slide! This 200-foot tube slide had adults and kids alike screaming like they had Freddy Krueger on their tail. We were so fortunate to have several industry partners sponsor the picnic so that we could bring so much great food and fun for a low $5 donation to the Ethel Crutcher Scholarship Fund. We received sponsorship donations from Sony, Warner Bros., Smart Post Sound and our good friends at CAS. Of course, MPSE members being the amazing humans that they are, mostly donated more than $5 for their groups, and we ended up with more than $3,000 in the scholarship fund. Great job, everyone! An energetic dance party playlist was curated for this event and had members and guests of all ages shaking their groove thang on the large dance floor. There was such an outpouring of love for the music MPSE FAMILY PICNIC out to Vasa Park in Agoura Hills for the first MPSE Fall Family Picnic in many (too many) years. We stayed dry and had a blast! The fun started before members even made it into the park. At check-in was a jumbo container of Skittles ripe for the taking if guests could accurately guess how many were inside. Also at check-in, every guest was issued a complimentary raffle ticket, and if they were sporting some of that sweet MPSE swag, they were given a bonus raffle ticket. Up for grabs in the raffle were two overflowing baskets of MPSE merch, plus the grand prize, a MacBook Air laptop and a Dell monitor, so folks were eager to get as many free entries as they could. Vasa Park put out a delicious, freshly grilled feast of sausages, hot dogs, veggie dogs, grilled tofu, and hamburgers with every fixing imaginable, including chili. Did somebody say chili dogs? Holla! Zesty Caesar salad, red potato salad, watermelon, and an assortment of drinks rounded out the menu, which finished with snow cones and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. No one left with an empty stomach! We set up one entire section of the park dedicated to keeping all the precious kiddos occupied and happy. We had carnival games complete with prizes, a fantastic 4-in-1 bounce house, a clown doing