Friday, February 17, 2006
Company Picnic!
With Anchorage frozen solid in December and January, it is a good time to head to Hawaii or to daydream about a warm summer day if you can’t afford the fare. July 4 was celebrated in style in Anchorage. Delaney Park Strip was filled with giant inflatables of Uncle Sam and the Statute of Liberty, and a thousand or more people queuing up in long lines to get some halibut tacos or some more exotic Russian fare. Since our stomachs already were growling rather fiercely, we decided to skip the interminable long lines and headed across 10th Street to the shorter lines at the Baptist Church. After snagging some hot dogs, chips, chocolate cakes, and some lemonade, we learned to our amazement that everything was free. We watched the pastors and a few elders of the church get dunked time and time again in the dunking booth. There was a distance of five feet or less to the target for the younger fry so it was hard for them to miss. One woman was determined to see her spouse get a good soaking from her hands, but she could not get anywhere near the target with her balls. I discreetly told her to walk up and hit the target with her hand. She delightfully obliged.
I can remember going to the McAlester Fuel Company picnics from the time I was six or seven. Several senior employees would spend the better part of a day barbecuing and preparing baked beans. That was great eating, but not the featured attraction for the kids. There were unlimited soft drinks. Finish one bottle and get in line for another. I think that my record was seven or eight. After burping down the cokes, we eagerly awaited for the ice cream truck to set up shop. Then it was Katy bar the door. Unlimited ice cream. The vendor probably was expected to restrict the number of times we asked for one of his specialties, but he mostly was just interested in maximizing his sells. While the kids swelled their bellies to unbelievable sizes with cokes and ice cream, the adults were engaged in a variety of amusements such as sack races and singing. For the most part, these adult activities went unnoticed by the pack of kids.
Once the picnic was moved to the Municipal Airport Park, the kids found new forms of entertainment. Many were content to engage in a variety of chase games until they succumbed to the inevitable result of being stuffed to the gills and beyond with coke and sweets. The kids who had been there before knew of a special place in the park. Far removed from the prying eyes of the adults was a large pole with eight or ten chains attached to a rotating top and the chains had handles about five feet from the ground. Each participant would reach up and grab a handle and then run round and round in a merry-go-round fashion. That is until everyone was convinced that there were no adults lurking nearby. Then if as on cue, the real fun began. One special person would take his chain and step out and backwards around 4 or 5 of the others runners. The exact number of chains that you could loop around depended on how high you could reach. When the action commenced the special person started out at a normal pace, but then wham. The magic of centrifugal force flared up. As the honored person passed each person whom his chain had overlapped, he went faster and faster and higher and higher. It was not unusual to be flying horizontally eight or ten feet off the ground and for a few brief seconds about 25 or 30 miles per hour. The people he passed over had to watch out for flying feet less they get creamed royally. The flying kiddo had to hang on for dear life. Some with weak arms simply flew off the gizmo into the grass. This was Fun City. Usually more people wanted to play than could be accommodated. No problem! Remember all those bellies with stretch marks from coke and cream. Running and flying in circles reduced the playing field in a hurry.
With Anchorage frozen solid in December and January, it is a good time to head to Hawaii or to daydream about a warm summer day if you can’t afford the fare. July 4 was celebrated in style in Anchorage. Delaney Park Strip was filled with giant inflatables of Uncle Sam and the Statute of Liberty, and a thousand or more people queuing up in long lines to get some halibut tacos or some more exotic Russian fare. Since our stomachs already were growling rather fiercely, we decided to skip the interminable long lines and headed across 10th Street to the shorter lines at the Baptist Church. After snagging some hot dogs, chips, chocolate cakes, and some lemonade, we learned to our amazement that everything was free. We watched the pastors and a few elders of the church get dunked time and time again in the dunking booth. There was a distance of five feet or less to the target for the younger fry so it was hard for them to miss. One woman was determined to see her spouse get a good soaking from her hands, but she could not get anywhere near the target with her balls. I discreetly told her to walk up and hit the target with her hand. She delightfully obliged.
I can remember going to the McAlester Fuel Company picnics from the time I was six or seven. Several senior employees would spend the better part of a day barbecuing and preparing baked beans. That was great eating, but not the featured attraction for the kids. There were unlimited soft drinks. Finish one bottle and get in line for another. I think that my record was seven or eight. After burping down the cokes, we eagerly awaited for the ice cream truck to set up shop. Then it was Katy bar the door. Unlimited ice cream. The vendor probably was expected to restrict the number of times we asked for one of his specialties, but he mostly was just interested in maximizing his sells. While the kids swelled their bellies to unbelievable sizes with cokes and ice cream, the adults were engaged in a variety of amusements such as sack races and singing. For the most part, these adult activities went unnoticed by the pack of kids.
Once the picnic was moved to the Municipal Airport Park, the kids found new forms of entertainment. Many were content to engage in a variety of chase games until they succumbed to the inevitable result of being stuffed to the gills and beyond with coke and sweets. The kids who had been there before knew of a special place in the park. Far removed from the prying eyes of the adults was a large pole with eight or ten chains attached to a rotating top and the chains had handles about five feet from the ground. Each participant would reach up and grab a handle and then run round and round in a merry-go-round fashion. That is until everyone was convinced that there were no adults lurking nearby. Then if as on cue, the real fun began. One special person would take his chain and step out and backwards around 4 or 5 of the others runners. The exact number of chains that you could loop around depended on how high you could reach. When the action commenced the special person started out at a normal pace, but then wham. The magic of centrifugal force flared up. As the honored person passed each person whom his chain had overlapped, he went faster and faster and higher and higher. It was not unusual to be flying horizontally eight or ten feet off the ground and for a few brief seconds about 25 or 30 miles per hour. The people he passed over had to watch out for flying feet less they get creamed royally. The flying kiddo had to hang on for dear life. Some with weak arms simply flew off the gizmo into the grass. This was Fun City. Usually more people wanted to play than could be accommodated. No problem! Remember all those bellies with stretch marks from coke and cream. Running and flying in circles reduced the playing field in a hurry.
