There are a lot of sound reasons to not have our picnic this year, most of them having to do with our members' safety, common sense our general inability to keep the picnic venue secure during the event. The FPDCC groves are not private spaces and there are countless chances for all sorts of complications because we have no control over who comes through or how they might comport themselves. Additionally, it's a relatively unsanitary situation to begin with. There's no running water, no proper bathrooms, etc. Even in a typical year, the hazards are many.
However, even if you're interested in following the FPDCC's rules, their stated limit is 50 people, not 99.
FPDCC wrote:If your permit lists an attendance of between 50-99 people, it will be placed in a “hold” status, and a member of the Permits staff will contact you to confirm whether you can limit attendance to fewer than 50 people before approving. Forest Preserves staff will be monitoring events to confirm that attendance does not exceed 50 people. Permit holders hosting events in excess of the limits are subject to enforcement, including dispersal of the event and citations.
So, getting it down to 99 attendees effectively accomplishes nothing except for earning the organizer the additional obligation of culling the group further, down to 50 attendees. Fwiw, we were over 99 last year and my guess is that if the weather had been better, that number would have been higher. So, that's a lot of cutting and excluding just to knowingly assemble a large group of people in a potentially unsafe situation where there'd be several variables beyond our control. Additionally, one of the best things about this particular event over the years has been that we have never limited attendance. On top of all that, it would be completely unwise to share food and beverage with each other in the current climate. So, there goes yet another defining element of the event. Taking all this into account, attempting to shoehorn in a picnic this year is a complete non-starter. The bottom line is that LTH will not hold its annual picnic this year.
I did not make this decision lightly. But in the end, there's just no amount of 'our community could really use this' that could overtake my fundamental instinct to not knowingly put people in harm's way.
All this said, many people have probably blocked off the date and are available. So, if those of you who are willing to gather would like to do so, there's absolutely nothing preventing you from doing so. All we ask is that it not be done under LTH's name or organized as an LTH event.
Many thanks, for your consideration and your understanding.
=R=
for LTH
By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. --Kambei Shimada
Every human interaction is an opportunity for disappointment --RS
That don't impress me much --Shania Twain