What happens when you get 1,200 Reynolds associates and family members soaking up the sun while listening to live music on a Saturday afternoon?

You get SummerFest: Reynolds’ annual company picnic.

SummerFest brings together associates and their families for a day of fun at the Dayton office. Adults enjoy great food, games, and mingling, while the kids can get their face painted, bounce on inflatables, and ride the zip-line.

This year, an associate’s band performed. This is a great way for Reynolds to support employees; and it shows how everyone genuinely loves getting involved in company events.

While there are a number of activities at SummerFest, there is one that reigns supreme (at least to me.) The ever-so-competitive Cook-Off competition. This competition allows teams to come together to show off their cooking abilities, creativity, and carpentry skills. Teams choose a dish to make involving the year’s “secret ingredient” and pick a theme to build and decorate their booth.

Last year, I enjoyed my experience with my department’s Cook-Off booth so much, I decided to help with our booth again this year. Planning started in early summer, as we knew we had a ton of work ahead of us. This year’s secret ingredient? Protein. Our theme? Down on the farm. The Ol’ McMarketing Farm started brainstorming entrée ideas, landing on pulled pork (members of our team even stayed overnight to smoke it, talk about true dedication), cornbread, and a variety of sauces guests could choose from.

Our team got together on the weekends to build our booth. We wanted to make our 10×10 tent come alive as a barn. These weekend hangouts allowed us get to know each other outside of our normal work environment.

The day of the event, we dressed in our finest flannel and overalls to enter a Cook-Off battle field filled with pilots, firefighters, inmates, and more. I loved seeing what other teams did with their themes and the secret ingredient.

We may not have won any formal awards, but we gained stronger friendships across the department and had a lot of fun. Plus, our department vice president said she loved our barn and was proud of us – that counts for something, right?

I’ll be back next year, but I won’t just be hungry for the food supplied by Reynolds and the Cook-Off teams. I’ll be hungry for a marketing department win in the Cook-Off competition.