The 3rd Annual Wenatchee Valley Veteran’s Picnic was held on August 30th at Walla Walla Point Park. This joint picnic, hosted by VFW Post 3617 and American Legion Post 10, is open to all active duty military, first responders, and of course veterans and their families.

This year, we saw close to 200 faces enjoying the sunshine, food, and fun. In addition to an excellent BBQ, fresh corn on the cob, and beer brats provided by our team of volunteers, an outstanding selection of salads, fruit, and deserts were provided by the Auxiliary members of both organizations.

The donated prize raffles and the 50/50 raffle again proved to be very popular with the crowd. Nearly $2,000 in tickets were sold this year, with the 50/50 winner taking home more than $350!

Our Auxiliary uses this picnic for their Family Freedom Festival. The goal of the Family Freedom Festival is to increase Auxiliary program participation and community awareness of, and involvement with, the Auxiliary’s National Programs. As part of this, there were a number of tables set up at the picnic with flyers, informational handouts, and activities for the kids. We even gave out some school supplies, donated by the Dollar Tree stores as part of Operation Homefront, to the children in attendance.

Each year we hold this picnic it gets a little bit better. Improvements for next year are already on the planning document. Thanks to everyone that helped with this year’s event. It is because of you that we can make this happen for our veterans.

See below for a variety of photos taken and shared by our members. We also have a gallery of pictures on Facebook.