Who does not have fond memories of a family picnic? Unless of course this was an occasion when the older children found more opportunities to pick on the little guys, but you know what they say, “we tyrannize those we love most.”

Let’s hope this is your experience and that today, as adults with children of your own, you can gather at family picnics and laugh as you recall earlier times with your siblings: “Mom, do you remember the time Jeannette threw half of my hamburger into the woods as soon as dad took it off the grill at a family picnic and I was crying and you let me have her dessert and then she was crying, and then we forgot all about it because we had so much fun building a little hut out of branches?”

There is something different about a picnic. It is not quite like other mealtime gatherings. With picnics, there is an added sense of playfulness; as though it were OK to be a little more relaxed, a little more laid back. Also, picnics provide additional freedom in the way of table manners. One must be proper and respectful, of course, but it’s OK to reach over for the butter and to help yourself and it’s OK to eat to your heart’s content. Picnics are about abundance and freedom. You don’t have to finish all your veggies at a picnic, but you do anyway, just because you don’t have to. The picnic is an impromptu affair in the sense that it lacks the rigorous order of a formal meal. This “lack” is in fact a great blessing.

A New York Times, May 26, 1912 article titled, “What Usually Happened on the Old-Fashioned Picnic,” illustrates the romantic early 20th century picnic most of us know thanks to movies: “Picnics! Yep, picnics come to my mind with thoughts of Memorial Day just as I see stockings hanging by the fireplace at the mention of Christmas,” writes the author. “When I was a youngster we went on a picnic every May 30, regardless of anything short of a cloudburst… and we invariably went forth on that day to eat things off a tablecloth spread on the ground… according to tradition, all eatables were provided by the feminine portion of the party. We weren’t hard to please. A few cold fried chickens, some peanut sandwiches, a big paper sack full of Saratoga chips, some potato salad in a fruit jar… and a freeze of strawberry ice cream …were practically all we expected at a picnic dinner in those days… It was customary for people who went on picnics to go a certain spot where there was a small river the size of a creek… The advantages of this place were that it was twelve miles away, which meant a long drive home by moonlight…”

Today, we drive our cars to the picnic and though we certainly hope for the day to linger, somehow stretching the sensation of passing time beyond the ordinary, we also value the ability to pack up and be home in a relatively short time. Ironic, in a way, isn’t it? In addition to this, the space age has changed how we travel, even to picnics. Incidentally, one of the first residential barbecue grills was nicknamed “Sputnik” due to its hemispherical shape. It appeared on the popular market in 1952. It used charcoal. The gas grill appears on the market in 1960. It was invented by two employees of the Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company whose responsibility it was to develop new ways of selling natural gas to residential customers.

As I began to mention, the space age has transformed the picnic tradition by bringing into our daily lives a new appreciation for practical design. Thus, while well into the 19th century picnics preserved an air of formality as tables, tablecloths and fine dinnerware were brought along in order to have a proper “dining” atmosphere, since about the 1960′s it is clever storage devices that we bring along for the festive event. These keep our lives organized and tidy, even in the great outdoors.

From the pop-up canopy to the compact portable grill, to the cleverly convenient grill and cooler trolley; from the elegant wine tote (wine requires proper decorum after all) to amazingly compact folding barbecues, the accessories that accompany Americans on picnics every year are ever more refined for ease of use and portability. Not only are we prepared for a well-organized picnic, but our outdoor leisure equipment doubles as emergency gear with pizazz, if necessary.

Europe’s Medieval hunters began the hunt with great decorum, which included a feast shared in the great outdoors. Many historians consider this to be the beginning of the picnic tradition. It was an affair of high society then, and through many centuries thereafter, where participants wore their finest attire. Our modern, laid-back attitude would have shocked our distant European cousins, certainly. Imagine their dismay at the sight of shorts, sleeveless shirts, bathing suits and other shall we say casual attires we take for granted since the mid-1900′s. This reminds me of a very good novel by Mark Twain. It is titled “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” I recommend it very highly.

Today, we picnic with class but without encumbrance. Ho! and be sure to bring a good book.