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It's a tradition that has stood the test of time, a beloved rite of summer that has remained constant as the community around it evolved from a sleepy crossroads to a bustling suburban hub.

The Montgomery General Hospital Women's Board Picnic and Bazaar will be held for the 90th time on July 27 — the fourth Tuesday of the month, just as it has since the beginning.

The picnic, which was first held as a supper, has always been held to raise money for hospital programs and expansion, as well as scholarships for students in the health care field.

Although no total was available on how much money the Women's Board has raised since the beginning, the supper-turned-picnic has raised a steadily increasing amount of money. The first supper raised $1,000 and the 2008 picnic raised more than $64,000. Figures for last year were not available on Tuesday.

The Women's Board has fulfilled recent pledges of $1 million for a cardiovascular lab and $800,000 for a pediatric emergency department. It is working on a five-year pledge of $1 million made in 2007 for the expansion and improvement of the hospital.

And although the Women's Board also runs the hospital's Thrift Shop and Gift Shop, the Picnic and Bazaar is its biggest annual moneymaker.

"It's an event that not only helps the hospital, but reminds us of how important the community is to all of us," Montgomery General Hospital President Peter W. Monge said.

The early days

Historians credit Dr. Jacob W. Bird, who arrived in Sandy Spring via horseback in 1909 and took over the practice of Dr. Roger Brooke, with bringing a hospital to the Olney-Sandy Spring-Brookeville community.

He launched the drive to open a hospital.

Montgomery General, one of the first rural hospitals in the nation, opened in 1920 before it was fully completed to help victims of a flu epidemic, according to Sandy Spring Legacy, a publication of the Sandy Spring Museum edited by Thomas Y. Canby.

"When Dr. Bird started agitating for a hospital, rural communities didn't have hospitals," said Sharon Holt, executive director of Sandy Spring Museum. "People with means had their health care at home. He was persuasive and determined, and convinced people that medicine was changing. Hospitals were thought of as places for indigent people who didn't have people to care for them, so he was able to change the way people thought."

Holt, who moved to the community just a few years ago, said she does not know the details of the Picnic and Bazaar, but has learned enough about the tenacity of area residents.

"This community builds traditions to last," she said. "When they bring people together and help bring resources to important institutions, the community stays committed. This is so unusual and amazing."

Anna Miller Farquhar founded the hospital's Women's Auxiliary, which later became the Women's Board, in 1919 with eight members, according to Sandy Spring Legacy.

The Women's Board remains active in the community, but some of its duties have changed

Patty Cutlip, who has been involved with the Women's Board for 30 years, serving as its president from 1995 to 1998 and maintaining a great deal of the organization's history, said one of the board's main functions in the beginning was to make the linens for the hospital.

"They made towels, cloths to sterilize instruments, curtains for the windows and to go around the beds, and even sewed patches on the uniforms," she said.

In another effort to support the hospital, they held a supper at Sherwood High School's gymnasium on July 30, 1920. Chicken salad was served and $1,000 was raised.

The supper became an annual event until 1943 and 1944, when it was suspended during World War II. During those years, a "Phantom Supper" was offered instead. A list went out to the community of what would have been served at the picnic had there been one, and families selected what they might have purchased and sent in a check for that amount.

The later years

Following the opening of the new hospital on Prince Phillip Drive in 1974, the event was moved to the old hospital grounds on Olney-Sandy Spring Road at Prince Phillip Drive and became known as the Picnic and Bazaar.

Cutlip said that in some ways the event has not changed over the years, yet has evolved to keep up with increasing crowds and health department regulations.

"St. Peter's always had a chicken fry and the picnic always had a chicken fry, and there were a lot of the same people involved in both," Cutlip said. "They used to pour the grease in huge barrels and store it at Hines Hatchery on Georgia Avenue until the next event. That's what made it so good — the well-seasoned oil."

Although health department regulations no longer allow that practice, one thing that remains the same is the recipe for the Picnic and Bazaar's famous fried chicken.

"It's the same recipe we've always used," Cutlip said. "The women make it that morning."

The recipe has always been a well-guarded secret.

The chicken fryers are somewhat of a fraternity.

"Most of the people who do it have done it for years and years, and do it all day long," Cutlip said. "It's almost like a club. It's hard work, but it's good fellowship. Even people who have moved away come back to fry chicken."

Like the chicken, the corn on the cob is prepared on the grounds.

Cutlip said that in the early days corn from this area would not have been ready to harvest, so farmer Stanley Stabler would drive to the Eastern Shore to get corn picked on Monday and bring it back to Olney on Tuesday.

"It was the freshest corn you could have," she said.

Some things never change

Food is not the only thing that draws visitors, though some would argue it is at the top of most visitors' lists. Tables full of books, jewelry, antiques, plants and baked goods lure plenty of browsers.

Cutlip said the antiques booth used to feature real antiques, but now most items are things donated to the Women's Board Thrift Shop that appear to be of value or interest.

"People used to save their old jewelry for the jewelry booth, but now most of what we get is costume jewelry," she said. "A lot of the donations have changed over the years, but then again, we really don't ask for it like we used to."

One thing that has not changed is the popularity of the tables of books. Although CDs and DVDs are also sold now, books continue to be the main draw.

"There are more than enough books to fill a large horse trailer, since that is how they are stored and transported," Cutlip said.

The plant booth has a loyal crew of volunteers.

"These women just have a knack for getting people to donate plants and are all so knowledgeable," Cutlip said.

Cutlip said many of the volunteers have that same sentiment about why they continue to help — they help because they enjoy it and they love the hospital.

"Even when people get older and can't stand all day, they look for another place to help," she said. "They just won't give it up."

Cutlip said that large crowds have been consistent throughout the years.

"It used to be that everyone in Olney, Ashton, Laytonsville, Brookeville and the surrounding communities came to the picnic," she said. "I don't know if ‘everyone' comes now, but we still get large crowds."

The idea has come up to move the event to a weekend, but Cutlip thinks the picnic probably could not handle crowds any larger.

Cutlip said the community support is what makes the event work.

"We couldn't do this if we didn't have the help," she said. "So many people are a part of this."

May 31, 1919: Cornerstone is laid for the hospital. A sit-down supper followed by a ball game raises $918.72.

1919: Anna Farquhar organizes the Ladies Auxiliary, precursor to the Women's Board, with eight members.

1920: First supper is staged at Sherwood High School. Chicken salad is served, $1,000 is raised.

1926: Ladies Auxiliary becomes the Women's Board with 53 members. Cost of the supper is 75 cents for adults, 35 cents for children.

1931: 927 suppers are served, $2000 is raised.

1940: Supper nets $3,000. Half-ton of chicken, 276 pounds of ham, 1,500 beaten biscuits are consumed. Same price as 1926.

1943 and 1944: Supper is suspended during World War II. Families make donations anyway.

1968: More than 2,000 dinners are served, $12,000 is raised.

1969: Supper menu features cole slaw, corn, fried chicken, potato salad, hot dogs and more. Tables of antiques and bric-a-brac, jewelry, baked goods, books, candy, flowers and market items are added. A dance and entertainment is staged, as well as children's activities.

1971: New $9M, 233-bed hospital opens on Prince Phillip Drive.

1972: Receipts from the Supper and Bazaar breaks record, clears more than $16,000.

1974: Supper and Bazaar becomes Picnic and Bazaar and moves to old hospital grounds on Olney-Sandy Spring Road.

1977: Picnic raises $23,310.50. The tally is 3,055 pounds of chicken, 4,500 ears of corn, 225 pounds of country ham, 900 pounds of French fries and 125 pounds of hot dogs.

1990: Picnic includes a cake in honor of the hospital's 70th anniversary, a 14-minute video on the hospital's history and a quilt raffle. Raises $52,000.

2009: Picnic sells out of 5,000 pounds of fried chicken and nearly sells out of 2,000 ears of fresh corn. Total raised is $64,000.

Montgomery General Hospital Women's Board and published reports