Community sure knows how to throw a big party

Many say the Kentucky Picnic put the village of Mansfield on the map.

So many people showed up for the annual event – usually held the last Sunday in August – that most of the streets of Mansfield were clogged with parked cars. Crowd estimates reported in The News-Gazette ranged from 3,000 to 6,000, especially in the late 1950s.

Families from all around the state, Indiana and particularly Somerset, Ky., spent the day in Mansfield Park listening to pickers and singers.

"You'd see a lot of people having picnics," said Dorothy Eddings, lifelong Mansfield resident. "And if you had an uncle or a father or brother who wanted to play, they had a bandstand and they'd get up and play and sing, and then another group would come up and play ... so there was a progression of singers all day – up into the evening. It was a huge crowd."

Charlotte McKee said there weren't carnivals to entertain, just the music.

That's what attracted the people, she said, "And they had a ball."

A story from The News-Gazette in 1958 said the picnic began in 1927 because many Kentuckians came to the area to work on local farms, and five former Kentuckians decided to hold a reunion.

In conjunction with the Kentucky Picnic, the town would have its homecoming the day before, and residents would come in for supper put on by the Lions Club and American Legion members. Women's clubs and school clubs sold pies and refreshments and quilts and other items were raffled off. There'd be carnivals for the children.

"At the Kentucky Picnic, you'd see a lot of people you didn't know," Eddings said. "But at the homecoming you would see people you knew. A lot of people would come back for the homecoming."