MOSES LAKE — The Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds has a maximum capacity of 770 people, and the crowd at the Senior Picnic Wednesday came mighty close to meeting that.

“We had 612 meals served to seniors,” said Debbie Doran-Martinez, executive director of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce. “We had 34 vendors, and most vendors, there were two people there. I don't have an exact headcount. There's a few that had three and four, but most of them had two.”

Add to that 24 volunteers from the community and 34 from the Columbia Basin Job Corps Center, and that’s a whole lot of people.

This was the ninth year the Senior Forum Committee, a collection of senior living facilities and other businesses that focus on seniors, has hosted the picnic. The vendor and information booths lined the walls of the building and spilled out into the midway, offering everything from financial planning to assisted living to cellular phone service. The Moses Lake-based Rocky Ford Band played well-known music from decades gone by, and a few couples took advantage of the little open space to dance. Others dined on barbecue sandwiches or visited the booths.

“It’s been non-stop,” said Ashley Hisey, who was representing Professional Dentures. “I’m hearing a lot of ‘Great news! I don’t need you.’ I tell them “Let’s keep it that way.’”

“The oldest (set of) teeth that came by me today was 101,” she added. “I was impressed. That’s a first for me.”

The staff from various senior living facilities prepared the food, and the Job Corps students plated and served it, Doran-Martinez said. Other volunteers helped with the heavy restroom doors, served coffee, parked walkers out of the way and shuttled seniors in from the parking lot in golf carts.

“It is a long jaunt,” she said. “And some people just need a little assistance to get in.”

If the growth continues, Doran-Martinez said, next year’s picnic will need two venues.

“I think what we're going to do, we'll stay in the commercial building with the dining, but we'll probably move vendor stuff over to the 4-H building,” she said. So whereas now we have it, where people can interact with the vendors the whole time, what we'll probably do is … have the vendors from 9 to noon, and then we'll have (seniors) move over into the commercial building for the luncheon and the band.”

Next year’s event is still in the brainstorming stages, she added, but it’s tentatively scheduled for June 12 and will have a luau theme.

“We're coming here every year,” said Ricardo Colunga, with Professional Dentures. “Hopefully we could do it twice a year. It'd be even more beneficial.”

Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years. He is the resident Senior Dad Joke teller and covers the beats for Royal City, George, history and the arts. He may be reached at [email protected].