For some old-fashioned fun plus food and fellowship, make plans to attend the Ruhl's United Methodist Church community picnic on Saturday, July 16. The event will take place at the church's picnic grove, 2766 Newport Road, Manheim, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"We're doing a modified picnic this year," said Gail Ruhl, a member of the picnic committee. In the past, the picnic included both lunch and dinner, as well as a day full of entertainment. The pandemic forced the church to cancel its picnic in 2019 and 2020. Last year's event featured a drive-through pickup for homemade chicken corn soup, and this year, the committee is expanding the picnic to include lunch and kids' activities. "The soup sale went fabulous last year, and we had a lot of new faces come through," Ruhl noted. "We sold out by noontime." Still, the congregation was eager to return to the picnic format that the church has held for more than 100 years, and the community was ready, too. "People were asking if we'd bring back the lunch this year," Ruhl said. "They missed it."
This year's picnic will feature takeout chicken corn soup as well as a variety of lunch items, including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, hot sausage sandwiches, desserts and beverages. The soup is the star of the show, Ruhl said, noting that volunteers will begin preparing more than 500 pounds of chicken on the Thursday before the picnic. "We'll have a little more than 14 kettles of soup," she remarked.
Ruhl added that the committee is excited to bring back the picnic. "I know picnics might be a thing of the past for many people, but I believe there are still a lot of people out there in the community who it's important to," she stated. "There's fellowship at the picnic. I think people missed just being able to sit at the picnic tables and converse with people they only see once or twice a year. It's about being together as a community."
Along with the picnic, Ruhl's Church will host services in the grove on Sundays at 7 p.m. from July 10 through Aug. 14. Each service will feature a different speaker and will be followed by an ice cream social. For more information on the picnic or the grove services, visit https://ruhlschurch.org or call the church office at 717-665-3400.
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