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New Rumley United Methodist Church hosting home cooking and ‘genuine’ bluegrass

BY SHAWN DIGITY twitter@DIGITYnodoubt

NEW RUMLEY — The New Rumley United Methodist Church is preparing for its yearly community picnic event. Event organizer Velma Gross explained that the annual event is usually thrown during the summertime. Sometimes it’s in July, but sometimes it falls in August or September. It’s been dependent on booking an artist for the event in many instances. But this year’s event fell in the dog days of summer, Tuesday, July 27, to be precise.

The community picnic has revolved around the artists and their schedules in years past, but the 2020 rendition had an additional hindrance: COVID. The coronavirus wasn’t enough to cancel the picnic outright, but it did hamstring the church’s efforts in a major way: no food was served. And it wasn’t just the pandemic that threw a monkey wrench into the schedule, either. A rainy forecast became a reality and brought the picnicgoers back indoors for the remainder of the concert, a bad break that now has Gross calling last year’s picnic a bit of a “bust.” But the church is looking to bounce back this year.

Gross emphasized that the event is a great way to promote “community” and “camaraderie.” Food, music, and fellowship can all be major players in crafting a successful picnic, after all. Although Gross expressed some skepticism for holding the community event on a weeknight, there are still high hopes that the “pretty good” attendance from other years will return to form in 2021.

A big selling point for this summer’s picnic is musical guest Williamson Branch. The group from Nashville is a bluegrass Gospel band featuring a family of five — and one nonfamily banjo player. But that won’t detract from the “fiddling, fast music” that Gross is anticipating for the concert. It won’t all be fast lane fiddling, though. Gross is also expecting some slowdowns and emphasis on Gospel music at several points throughout the show.

The concert is only one facet of the picnic, so lest we forget, let’s mention the menu. Gross said to expect typical picnic fare: hot dogs and coney dogs, sloppy joes, pasta salad, and many types of desserts. Gross really drove that point home, too, as she was not afraid to vouch for the church’s culinary capabilities. “New Rumley [United Methodist Church] is known for its home cooking. We have a reputation for good home cooking.”

The official flyer for the event read as follows: “The New Rumley United Methodist Church will host Williamson Branch from Nashville on Tuesday evening, July 27, with a picnic beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the outdoor concert from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Everything is free, and the public is invited. In case of rain, it will be held indoors.”