For Tuscumbia residents Ken and Norma Runge, Sunday's St. Joseph Catholic Church Fall Picnic in Westphalia was an intimate gathering, despite attendance that more than tripled the size of the small town.
The Tuscumbia residents attend Mary's Home, where they're accustomed to a church dinner that serves some 6,000. In Westphalia, population 390, about 1,400 dinners are served.
The couple made the hour-long drive to enjoy good company, buy some wine and, of course, eat. On the menu: sausage, German pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, bread, apple sauce and a variety of desserts.
"This is a good event," Norma Runge said. "The food is delicious."
Although they've made the rounds to many Catholic church picnics in recent years, it's the first time they've made it to St. Joseph's. Asked if they would return next year, Ken Runge didn't hesitate: "You betcha," he said.
The small-town picnic takes nearly a year of planning, and is a church-wide effort - which, in Westphalia, isn't much different than saying a community-wide effort. Many of the early settlers came from the Westphalia region of Germany, and the town is predominantly Catholic.
Asked how many non-Catholics live in town, two event organizers chuckled. "Twenty aren't," Donna Rehagen guessed. Husband Ron added: "There's not many who aren't."
Donna Rehagen said what makes the St. Joseph event so special is not only the number of dedicated volunteers, but that the picnic features a variety of talents from its members. Westphalia Vineyards was selling its wine outside, while Putter's Kettle Corn set up a stand nearby. Inside the gym, a member was teaching a painting class, with pumpkins as the canvas. Church members also played in a band.
That's in addition to the church's baking talents: Each family is asked to contribute two pies and two loaves of bread to the event.
The weather was perfect for a picnic on Sunday: sunny in the upper 60s. But 82-year-old Robert Holterman, who has attended church events since he was a young boy, said he could recall fall picnics in the past in which the weather didn't cooperate so well.
"I remember when it was 20 degrees and we had a band from Hermann. It was playing by itself out here. It was miserably cold that year," he said.
Some of the event organizers couldn't recall when the church's first fall picnic took place. One parishioner, Delores Holterman, said she thought it started in the '60s as a way to bring the community closer together.