BURLINGTON —

This weekend the Commons Playground will be a flurry of activity as both current and former Burlington residents come together to celebrate the

community’s legacy.

The fifth annual Burlington Family and Friends’ Reunion is slated for this weekend. All reunion activities will be at the Commons. They will kick off with a fish fry and hospitality night from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday. A picnic will begin at noon on Saturday, with lunch being served at 2 p.m. Meat will be provided, but covered dishes are needed by 1 p.m. Also Saturday, there will be a memorial service and balloon launch in memory of former Burlington residents who have died and a wellness clinic featuring screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.

Organizer Charles Linthicum said the event has been a success since it started in 2001. The reunion started as a way to get people together who may have lost touch with each other or

moved away from the area.

“The only time we would ever get together is when someone died. We would all gather for a funeral and we thought “This just doesn’t make sense. We need to get together at a more joyful time than this,’” Linthicum said.

So, the reunion was conceived.

“It’s just a great time getting back together and sharing our lives and what we are doing now,” he said.

Bev Scott, another organizer of the reunion, said each the year the reunion continues to grow. There are about 200 attendees now, she said.

“This is a way of keeping the community together,” Scott said. “It’s like a family getting together. We have people coming from Vegas, Texas and California. Every year we have more and more people coming.”

The reunion is held every year the last weekend in July.