Teddy Bear Picnic Celebrates 30th Anniversary

By Shea Barnes

A beloved tradition returns Saturday, July 20, and Mike and Carleen McCornack wouldn't miss it for the world.

For the last 30 years the McCornacks and Eugene Public Library have helped local families celebrate Summer Reading with a long-standing tradition: the Teddy Bear Picnic.

This year's picnic, held at the Amazon Amphitheater behind Amazon Community Center, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. This annual event encourages families with young children to come to the park for an hour-long celebration of Summer Reading.

The McCornacks' said their favorite part of the event is watching the kids play.

"That's what it's all about, it feels like a renewal getting to see all the little kids, there's really nothing like it," Carleen McCornack said.

After Mike and Carleen participated in "toddler time," a kids story time in the mid-1990s, they spoke to Eugene Public Library staff about how fun it might be to do a Teddy Bear Picnic. They both loved the song from their childhood, and Mike had been playing it for years before they started playing it together. The Teddy Bear's Picnic is a song that is played during the parade at the end of the event, originally by Henry Hall.

Library staff agreed it would be a fun idea, and in part, they decided to make it a celebration of Summer Reading.

Since the first Teddy Bear Picnic on July 29, 1995, Mike and Carleen McCornack & The Garden Variety Band have been the core of the event. With a set list of children's songs, some original and some covers, arts and crafts and even teddy bear doctors, literacy in children is celebrated anually.

Eugene Public Library, in partnership with the Imagination Library and the Adventure Museum, will be holding activities for before and after the live music from the band. With the typical arts and crafts stations, teddy bear doctors and of course the teddy bear parade.

Mike and Carleen's main motivation for the event is seeing how happy all of the children are year after year. It is also fun to see how much fun the parents and grandparents are having.

"Every year, the Teddy Bear Picnic has been the same full-family event," Mike said.

Through the years, Mike has even written songs based on different bears that come out during the parade at the end of the event.

The afternoon is a full family event, with typically two to three generations in every group. Some of these parents grew up attending the Teddy Bear Picnic themselves.

During the first Teddy Bear Picnic, the McCornack's kids were nine and 10 years old, and now, 30 years later, they are bringing their own children.

"For an event like this to remain so vital within the community is truly amazing, and the 30th anniversary of this event is a great milestone to celebrate," Mike said.

Mike and Carleen are shocked this event has even been a possibility and give their thanks to the library and the community for their continuous support all of these years.

Mike and Carleen said, "It feels like a renewal to see all the little kids. This year is special because the milestone is so big."

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