Time for tradition

View larger image Members of Five of a Kind entertain the crowd gathered Saturday for the 137th annual Gravel Springs Picnic in Star Tannery. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Attendees enjoy the food, music and a good meal. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Madison Dofermire, 5, serves ice cream to Beth and Danny Boies of Front Royal during the event. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Dennis Brill, left, is served food by Eleanor Himelright and her husband, Ray, during the event. Andrew Thayer/Daily View larger image Max Renner greets Kevin Craig from Gettysburg, PA, during the 137th Annual Gravel Springs Picnic in Star Tannery on Saturday. Andrew Thayer/Daily

Star Tannery celebrates with food, music, dance at Gravel Springs Picnic

By Alex Bridges - abridges@nvdaily.com

STAR TANNERY -- Rain can't wash out 137 years of tradition.

A brief dousing certainly didn't stop Star Tannery's Gravel Springs Picnic on Saturday. The annual event at Gravel Springs Lutheran Church drew hundreds of people throughout the day for barbecue, ice cream and sweets, bluegrass music by Five of a Kind and the long-standing sense of community in Star Tannery.

"We usually come with friends," said Angela Henry, of Strasburg, whose husband's family attends the church and helps run the food stands. "I grew up around here."

"I came at [noon], ate lunch, left, came back," she said, sitting with family and friends. "Everybody does [have fun] and you know everybody. Everybody knows everybody."

Adults and children toe-tapped and knee-slapped on the dance floor as the band played upbeat tunes under the bandstand. A few people slow-danced to the band's waltzes.

The line for barbecue and other picnic food often extended far beyond the covered dining area.

The picnic draws family and friends in the community and from out of state.

"People you haven't seen in years," said Ray Himelright, 89, on why he keeps coming. "Some are nice and some are nasty ... and it's good to see people you know."

"You watch people, how they age," Himelright said. "But you can't see yourself age. You see the other guy age."

Many organizers, like the Himelrights, can trace their family back generations to earlier picnics.

"When I first remember my grandmother and mother would make food to bring to sell, and then after they passed ... I started," said Himelright's wife, Eleanor.

The Himelrights moved back to Star Tannery more than 30 years ago and the couple have helped with the picnic since then.

"It's a friendly homecoming event," Himelright said. "A lot of the people were born here, have families here or have relation here, and friends."

Local historians say the picnic started at least as far back as 1873.

"It's 137 years that we know of," Mrs. Himelright said. "We are not dead sure that 18 and 73 was the first one. It's the best they could calculate years ago."

Historians trace the picnic's beginnings to Thomas Cover, the man who started the Star Tannery, around which the community grew. Cover decided to hold a picnic for the tannery workers and the gathering turned into an annual event.

Star Tannery resident Wesley Rudolph, who is working on a book about the history of the community, said after the tannery closed, members of the church carried on the tradition.

"Every year at the picnic we're continuing to make history," Rudolph said. "The picnic is probably one of the biggest part of the history and one of the oldest things we hold on to other than the church and the church membership itself."

The picnic has been held on the church grounds every year since, with the exception of two years during World War II, on the second Saturday in August, according to Mrs. Himelright.

In the early years, people brought dinners and ate at their own tables, she said. After World War II, organizers started selling food and other items to raise money for the church. Eventually people stopped bringing their own picnics in favor of buying food at the event, Mrs. Himelright said.

The picnic eventually featured a brass band, as organizer Max Renner recalled. Five of a Kind began playing at the picnic more than 20 years ago, he said.

Between band sets, crafts and homemade baked goods such as cakes, pies and brownies are auctioned off to benefit the church. Bids for a large quilt rose past $1,100.

Renner, 77, said he started going to the picnic when he was 2 years old and has seen many changes made to the event.

"I've worked on it here ever since I was big enough to do anything," he said.

Saturday's crowd may not be the largest, as some picnics have drawn 800 to 900 people, Renner said. He blamed the rain for scaring some people away.

Carrying on the tradition likely falls on the next generations as younger people with ties to the community bring their children to the picnic.

"This is like a family reunion for us," said Becky Maynard.

Betty Boyer, of Strasburg, said she comes "for the community, for the church that's been around for a long time."

"We've had a lot of family members get married here, buried in that cemetery here," she said.