Neighbours who had never met, some living steps from each other, shared a potluck lunch Saturday as Joyous NOTL held its fifth annual summer picnic on the lawn at McFarland House.
The picnic brings together members of a private Facebook group Mariah Reese started in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to push back against the negativity she saw taking over local online spaces.
“I was starting to be a very negative person too, and I was like, ‘You know what? If negativity can grow so fast, positivity can too,'” she said.
The Joyous NOTL group has grown to almost 2,000 members and its picnic has become a summer tradition beside the Niagara Parkway.
She said she launched the page thinking four or five people might want a little positive space. It grew quickly and members soon asked to meet in person.
The gatherings carry no political, religious or business purpose, she said, and draw people from Niagara Falls and Buffalo along with residents from across town.
Those meetups have produced friendships, book clubs and walking clubs, said Reese. One resident once stopped her on the street to thank her, telling her the tone of other local Facebook groups had softened since Joyous NOTL began.
“We have some of the nicest, most joyous, most positivity-spreading people you could meet in town here,” she said.
Saturday’s picnic was the group’s family event — children, grandchildren and friends were all welcome. Reese said members range from newcomers to a regular in her 80s or 90s who gets chatted up by friends and neighbours every year.
Her husband, Robert Reese, said the group’s purpose has outlasted the pandemic that inspired it.
“There does seem to be some divisiveness every once in a while, and that’s a small town — it doesn’t matter what small town you go to,” he said.
He said the picnic brings a real cross-section of the town, and newcomers often build friendships that carry on after the tables are cleared.
“You might only see them in the parking lot. We just pick up where we left off, and we’re just friends,” he said.
Mariah Reese credited Konzelmann Estate Winery and Andrew Niven for their support, saying the winery has reached out every year to donate and ask how it can help. Door prizes at Saturday’s picnic included a $200 basket donated by Konzelmann.
