125th annual Leopold Picnic this weekend

For 125 years, people have celebrated the Leopold Picnic, heading to St. John�s Catholic Church and the fairgrounds for food, fun and fellowship � and music.

But first and foremost, it�s the food, said Marty Calvert, this year�s picnic chairman.

Arnold Jansen, who is helping to organize the picnic, said a lot of food goes into the preparation: 1,550 pounds of chicken are fried, 500 pounds of roosters go into the chicken and dumplings, 1,100 pounds of beef are cubed for the kettle beef, 600 pounds of potatoes are peeled, 250 pounds of cabbage makes the coleslaw and 66 gallons of whole milk make the homemade ice cream.

Teams of men do the cooking, Calvert said, �but make no mistake, it�s the women who are directing them.�

Long tables in the fairground�s hall seat dozens of people for the meal, served from 3 until 8 p.m. Saturday. Food is served family style, and is available either as a sit-down meal or carry-out plate.

Ashton James removes fried chicken from the vat as Ronnie Wesbecher watches July 29, 2017, at the St. John's Church Picnic in Leopold, Missouri.Fred Lynch

�Kettle beef, chicken and dumplings, homemade ice cream, those three things particularly,� Calvert said.

Just as important as the food is the fellowship, Calvert said.

The Leopold Picnic serves as an annual town celebration, he said, but �there are several folks see each other just a few times a year, and one is here.�

It�s great to see people talking and children playing, he said. �It�s really nice to reel back in time a little bit and enjoy those years maybe gone by.�

And then there�s the live music.

Set to perform from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. is Joyful Strings, a mountain dulcimer group, and then the Whitewater Bluegrass Band will play.

SilverFox and Friends will take the stage for the evening�s entertainment after an intermission, he added.

Another big attraction is the tractor ride in the morning, Calvert said. For the second year in a row, tractors will gather in the Knights of Columbus Hall parking lot at 11 a.m., then drive down the highway into town where they�ll pass the picnic grounds and park between the rectory and elementary school.

Returning this year will be the fish pond, country store, quilt raffle and other attractions, Calvert said.

There�s a lot of work that goes into the picnic, Calvert said, but there are a lot of hands helping.

�I don�t know if I�d say hundreds of people, but that�s not far off,� he said.

One of those behind-the-scenes people is Nick Elfrink, the original artist behind murals in the dining hall and on either end of the hamburger- and soda stand.

Elfrink said he painted the murals years ago, when his son, who is now 31, was 2.

�Those paintings have been in the kitchen over 25 years,� he said of the colorful depictions of cartoon characters on the hall�s white walls.

Elfrink also painted the ends of the soda stand originally, he said.

One end shows a couple of smiling faces enjoying sodas, and the words �Soda Stand.�

On the other, there�s a hot dog and hamburger.

�I redid them because they�d almost just faded out,� Elfrink said. �Marty asked me to redo them, so I did.�

Elfrink was born and reared in Leopold, he said, and growing up, his dad was in charge of the fish pond. Then Elfrink�s older brother, now deceased, took over, and Nick himself took over for him.

�The picnic has always been part of our life,� Elfrink said, acknowledging it is a lot of work.

Still, it�s worth it, he said.

�I see a lot of old friends,� he said. �People stop by the fish pond, say hello. I get to meet people that were part of my ancestry, some of them I�d never seen before, and they�ll tell me, �So and so said I could see you up here.��

And they can.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630