They exhibited why the NY Picnic is termed "The Mother of All Picnics"
Saturday, August 7th, 2004, Croton on Hudson, NY, USA --In an effort to make Ghanaians enjoy themselves immensely this summer, organizers of major picnics, New York, Chicago and London made sure that they avoid any date conflicts and make Ghanaians enjoy three consecutive weekends of fun. It has never happened before as in the past, we have had two major picnics on the same day. Ghanaweb.com has got involved to support this cause by featuring these major events thereby making our brothers and sisters have the choice of going from one picnic to the next. It is so much fun to travel and show some love and support to our brothers and sisters in other cities. It brings all of us closer and exhibiting our culture for the rest of the world to see.
The Chicago picnic set the stage by holding their annual Ghanafest and afterwards passed the torch to the Big Apple, New York City, the city that never sleeps and the same city where the "The Mother of All Picnics" is held. Then the torch would take an eight hour flight to the UK where our brother, Kojo Bonsu of Agoo magazine fame, Frank Adjei aka DJ Fire and team would receive it and set the stage for the Meet Me There 2004, the first ever UK biggest African family event which would be attended by His Excellency; Mr. Isaac Osei, Ghana High Commissioner to UK/Ireland then afterwards then the torch comes back to the US and go south to Atlanta for the Ghana Expo in September and back to the first ever Gospelfest in October to hit the NJ soil featuring the "Mehuri So" man himself, Prophet Seth Frimpong. This big event is led by dynamic world class promoters; Mr. Solomon Krow of Africanspice.com and Mr. Kofi Bawuah of Universal Shipping Company in NJ.
On this particular Saturday, August 7th, Ghanaians from USA started heading to the most anticipated picnic in 2004, the New York Picnic presented by the National Council of Ghanaian Associations, (NCOGA). This annual event is a run for your money, an event where you get the chance to meet your favorite old class/school mates, high school teacher, hip-life star, movie star, and enjoy the nice weather with the family in the Ghanaian way.
This event was well packed and it was an event where many Ghanaians show their latest Ghanaian fashion wear; hats, bandanas, T. Shirts, Fugus, and lot more to catch the eye.
There was a live event which was headlined by Nana Kwame of "Atea Donko fame", supported by Papa Shee and dancers, Wanlove (The Ghanaian Bob Marley , who impressed the crowd with his lyrics ) and Boya Dun, Double Dee from Canada, Tony Montana, Ded Buddy and others. The MC for the event was the ever popular funny man, Dr Rotoko. There were Ghanaian media covering the event beside Ghanaweb; they are dondoweb, Azey Media, Amandla Newsmagazine and Homecoming African Network from Ohio. The Ghana Nurses Association, NY gave out health leaflets to educate ourselves with health matters.
The picnics are events not to be missed and we encourage Ghanaians worldwide to make it next year because they happen once a year and an event for a lifetime.
It is the UK's turn to exhibit our culture to the rest of the world this coming weekend.
Ghanaweb would like to thank the executives of NCOGA including; Alhaji Mardah, Ivy Quarshie, Patrick Gyan, Kofi Dankwa and Thomas Mensah for their hard work in making this event a possibility. Special thanks goes to Mr. Kwabena Manu aka Honourable Pancho, a Trade Unionist in the Westchester County Government, NY and NCOGA's Public Relations man for helping us get the venue where the picnic was held. We encourage Ghanaians to continue to show some love and support the NCOGA in all their activities