WILBRAHAM – Allison Thomas and Nicole Scott watched as their respective three-year-olds, Riley Mae and Caleb, came rolling down the inflatable slide together and spilled out onto the grass. The giggling duo quickly untangled their arms and legs and scrambled back into the line to take another turn in the bounce house.

Families from Wilbraham and Hampden took advantage of the warm, sunny day on Sept. 8 to gather at the Minnechaug Regional High School campus for a Back to School Block Party Picnic.

The idea, said Superintendent Albert Ganem, was to give families in both communities a chance to meet.

 “This isn’t a school event. It really is a community event,” Ganem said.

Thomas said that she, her second-grader Cole, kindergartener Eli, and Riley Mae had met two new families.

“For me, it’s mostly seeing families I already know,” said Scott. Thomas agreed, “It’s just a nice social activity.”

“There’s is a lot of familiar faces – one good thing about small towns,” Thomas said.

Kristina and John Guerin sat picnicking with their two children, John, who is in first grade and Claire, who is in second year pre-K, both at Mile Tree.

“I think it’s a great idea – a good back to school ritual,” said Kristina.

“This is a really great event. It’s good for the community,” said third-grade Stony Hill teacher Jackie Sullivan, who was teaching her daughter, Kayleen, how to serve a volleyball.

Kerryn and Matt Perkins brought their kids because “we wanted to be townies,” Kerryn said. Their daughter Eva, who is in kindergarten, played in the bounce house while preschooler Frank perched on his dad’s shoulders.

“We thought it’d be fun to meet some of the other kids from school,” said Amanda Whittier, mom to Green Meadows students Austin and Allie.

Daisha Hoskinson, who was the driving force behind organizing the picnic, said it cost less than $1,000 to put together. She said the sound system was free, they were given a good deal on the inflatable bounce house and obstacle course, and the frisbees, cornhole, and volleyball were loaned from people in town. The picnic lunches were brought by the families, who filtered in and out over the three-hour event.

“The kids’ experience is what we make it,” Hoskinson said of her reason for throwing the get-together. “These kids playing with each other, they don’t know what town each other is from. We needed an event to bring the towns’ kids together,” she said.