While the once-great facilities of Weirton Steel, and their successors, appear to be no more, that doesn’t take away from the history and traditions for which they stood. That includes an annual picnic where long-time steelworkers gather to reconnect and relive their experiences as they contributed to the building of America and the rest of the world.

The Weirton Steel 25 Year Club has existed for more than 75 years, and, for much of that history, has organized a picnic for employees and retirees with at least 25 years in the local steel mill.

It is a summer tradition which has brought individuals from across the country back home for an afternoon of friendship and recollection, sharing stories from their years of employment at the local steel mill, looking back at their shared history, and providing tales of their lives in the years since.

This year’s picnic will take place on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Serbian Picnic Grounds, and we are wishing all those who plan to attend to have a great time.

The history of the picnic traces its days back to some of the earliest days of Weirton Steel Corp., originally organized as a way for the company to honor the dedication of its employees. In the years since, the 25-Year Club was organized and took over the duty of planning the event, with support of several local businesses.

While the manufacturing of Weirton Steel – as well as National Steel, ISG, ArcelorMittal and Cleveland Cliffs – has come to an end in our community, we appreciate the efforts of those in the 25-Year Club to keep this tradition going.

It helps our local steelworkers, past and present, to reconnect with friends made over generations of Weirton manufacturing, while preserving a vital part of our community’s history.

The future of those facilities is pretty dim these days, with Cleveland Cliffs shutting down all tin manufacturing and a proposed electrical transformer plant halted before it could really begin, but we are glad to at least see this element continue, and, hopefully, for years to come.