
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995                   TAG: 9507280027
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: E-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VINTON REVIVES TOWN EMPLOYEES' PICNIC

Vinton will revive an old tradition - a town employees' picnic - in the hope that it will become a tradition.

For the first time in about 10 years, all Vinton employees and their families will be invited to a town-sponsored picnic. It will be held Aug. 13 at the Vinton War Memorial from 3 to 9 p.m.

The picnic is being revived at the request of Town Manager Clay Goodman, who said that he and a group of employees came up with the idea.

Goodman said employee picnics were successful in other communities where he has worked and demonstrated the benefits of getting employees together in a non-work environment, Goodman said.

Vinton Town Council has set aside about $1,000 to cover the cost of the event.

Carolyn Ross, a longtime Vinton employee, said an annual picnic was held for many years at the now-defunct Lakeside Amusement Park.

Ross said the picnics ended in the mid-1980s primarily because of a lack of organization. There was no permanent committee to plan the event, she said, and eventually it ``just faded away.''

by CNB