The first-ever Pirate Pride Picnic was held on the front lawn of the Riverside Local Schools building Tuesday.

A cookout along with various activities for students, parents, community members and employees of the district were available from 4:30-6:00.

Debbie Hughes, a mother of several children in the Riverside School District, played a crucial role in orchestrating the event to help invite the community to see what Riverside Schools have to offer and to help students gear up for the new school year. (Audio interview and pictures included.)

Listen to Debbie Hughes discuss the Pirate Pride Picnic.

Chris Egbert of Jackson Livestock donated all of the meat for the picnic totaling a donation of 500 hamburgers, 500 hot dogs and a couple hundred bratwursts.

Other agencies that were at the cookout included: The Family School Partnership, Riverside Library, DeGraff Police Department, DeGraff and Quincy Fire Departments, the OSU Extension Office, and FFA.

The Logan County Sheriff's Office's Lt. Andy Smith and the DeGraff PD's Chief George Piersall handed out 50 bicycle helmets to the first 50 children that came to the picnic.

The helmets were donated by the Dayton Children's Medical Center in an effort to promote child safety awareness and reduce bicycle-related injuries.

Riverside starts school on Wednesday.