wooden picnic tables

The ultimate location for a picnic table in honor of National Picnic Month in July

By Erica Puisis

Summer is in full swing, and there is no better time than now to grab your picnic blanket or stake your claim at one of the local park picnic tables for an afternoon or evening of food and fun!

July is National Picnic Month and green spaces near and far are filling up with hungry nature-goers seeking a break from the demands of day-to-day life with a simple meal taken on the go.

Where did the idea of the picnic originate, and how has the concept been transformed over the years? Read on for these answers, and tips to plan your own picnic party to celebrate National Picnic month.

How the concept

Picnic tables in the education area at the Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center at the popular Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Visitors to the Tashjian Bee and Pollinator Discovery Center will now be able to sit on new wooden picnic tables to learn about the vital role these little flying workers play in the world's ecology.

The world-renowned research center is part of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at the University of Minnesota in Chaska, MN.

The arboretum covers 1,137 acres and offers an amazing display of gardens, trails and natural areas with 5,000 different species of plants. It is considered to be one of the premier horticultural field laboratories and public display areas in the world and was named Best Botanical

The City of West Palm Beach arranged for local artists to paint 25 picnic tables with an Aesop's Fables theme

Want to create a great attraction for your park this summer with picnic tables?

One city came up with an idea to liven up their surroundings by using wooden picnic tables as canvases for local artists to display their talents.

What a fantastic (and simple) strategy to bring people to a park or promotion!

And what a clever way to generate revenue for your park (The city will auction off these tables at the end of the summer).

These artistic picnic tables are part of the

Central Park in New York City - 843 acres of grass, trees and 9,000 wooden benches

Summer means warmer weather but also more wear and tear on outdoor facilities. If you want to see an excellent example of just how busy this season can be, check out New York's Central Park and how it handles millions of annual visitors, an endless number of plants and thousands of wooden benches.

Surrounded by 8.5 million residents in a place that also attracts a swarm of tourists every year, this lush patch of 843 acres in the middle of concrete and steel certainly sees its share of visitors.

In fact, today about 40 million people enter the park every year.

New York City is in the Northeast, with definitive seasons. That means there are days when the park is desolate and

Metal picnic tables from The Park and Facilities Catalog at Indiana State University

When you are the landscape manager for a major college campus, you face a variety of challenges and that's why metal picnic tables are one solution that requires less maintenance and care.

Stephanie Krull is the Landscape and Grounds Manager for a leading college - Indiana State University in Terre Haute, with a student population of 13,000 students.