PORT TOWNSEND — The second Jefferson County All County Picnic on Sunday will offer information for connecting neighborhoods and lining up resources in case of a disaster.
The free picnic — sponsored by Local 20/20 and a variety of other organizations — is set from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at H.J. Carroll Park in Chimacum.
Scheduled events include presentations about preparedness, live music and booths providing information about emergency management, health, medical options, food, shelter, transportation and communication.
A variety of booths will offer information and services.
The opening welcome will be at 11:30 a.m. on the main stage, sponsored by Jefferson Healthcare. Live music will sound from the stage throughout the afternoon.
Food vendors will be on site, although two items — corn on the cob served by Aaron Stark, Jefferson Healthcare hospital chef, and cake — will be available for free.
The picnic is free of drugs and alcohol. Dogs are not allowed.
Peninsula isolated
When the big one — whether it is a tsunami, an earthquake or something more ominous like a terrorist attack — happens, the isolation of the Northern Olympic Peninsula will put the squeeze on residents, organizers say.
While the standard advice for urban areas is to store one week’s worth of supplies for a disaster, local residents should triple that amount, according to Port Townsend City Councilwoman Deborah Stinson.
In a disaster — defined as something that exceeds an area’s capabilities — many resources will go to larger population centers such as Seattle, Stinson told the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce earlier this week.
The isolation of Port Townsend, and the possibility of being cut off from the Seattle area if the Hood Canal Bridge goes down, means “we’re kind of out here . . . we’re surrounded by water with a bridge that could go down, so we’re going to be pretty much cut off.”
One of the picnic’s main themes is neighborhood preparation. It will offer information about how people can pool resources with those who live nearby to prepare for a cataclysmic event.
Instructions about how to organize neighbors for a disaster is a key part of the instruction to be presented at the picnic, teaching people to pool their skills and get to know their neighbors.
Once a plan is developed, people can share resources and skills to help each other, Stinson said.
She said more than 120 neighborhoods in Jefferson County are now organized but that there are far more that need to be connected.
Instructional kits about how to organize a neighborhood for disaster preparedness will be distributed at the picnic.
Such organization requires a 90-minute meeting to line up the resources.
Also included are a series of tent talks about survival issues. The schedule is:
■ 11:30 a.m. — Bill Hunt of Jefferson Healthcare hospital will discuss medications.
■ Noon — Jordan D. Pollack will talk about first-aid preparedness.
■ 12:30 p.m. — Presentation by Neighborhood Preparedness Action Group, a Local 20/20 group.
■ 1 p.m. — Laura Tucker will discuss climate change preparedness.
■ 2:45 p.m. — Rico Moore will talk about wilderness skills applied to sheltering in place.
■ 3:15 p.m. — Carol McCreary will discuss disaster sanitation.
Musical entertainment — and a community activity — are scheduled on the main stage at:
■ 11:35 a.m. — Alanna Dailey and Kreea Baabahar.
■ Noon — Steve Grandinetti.
■ 12:45 p.m. — Bella Jack.
■ 1:30 p.m. — Community activity with Leif Hansen.
■ 2:30 p.m. — Toolshed Trio.
For more information, visit www.allcountypicnic.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
