Where once the 10-acre hill at Morganville (site of the picnic for the first 32 years of its existence) bore a sign warning automobiles to "Keep Out," today such restrictions are forgotten.

And where once 13 men, organizers of the picnic, circulated through the Saturday throngs, today that figure has dwindled to two. One is Hi Montgomery, born near Mount Auburn 80 years ago, within a quarter-mile of his present home, and the present chairman of the picnic; the other is his brother, T. A. Montgomery.

It was in July of 1887 that the two Montgomerys sat with 11 other men, all members of the Farmer's Mutual Benefit association, in the schoolhouse at Union cross-roads near Mount Auburn and organized the first picnic. In the 52 years since that date there has been a picnic on every first Saturday in August. Hi Montgomery, elected chairman of the picnic when it moved from Morganville to Mount Auburn 20 years ago, has seen them all.

"Sure, we used to keep out automobiles," he laughs in recollection. "Afraid they'd scare the horses. But people didn't need automobiles to come to the Morganville picnic. Buggies and wagons were good enough, and they'd be there from sunup to sundown."

The site at Morganville was ideal for picnics, Hi recalls. The 10 acres was split, with five acres allotted to horses, and five to people. Known first as the F. M. B. A. picnic when it was held at Morganville, the name changed when the site was moved to Mount Auburn.

With the two Montgomerys in that group of organizers were Jack Yarnell, Ben Austin, Tom Overmyer, Sam Betz, Oliver Donnells, Bob Gray, Charles Lewis, L. F. Drake, Bill Morgan, B. F. Whitesell, and J. E. Montgomery, brother to the first two.

Yarnell was the first picnic chairman, with Betz treasurer. The following year Drake was elected chairman, and Hi Montgomery treasurer. Officers changed from year to year when the picnic was held at Morganville, but Hi has been in charge for the 20 years in Mount Auburn.

Attendance at the first picnic was approximately 10,000, Hi estimates, and the figure hasn't changed noticeably in the subsequent years. Plans for today's celebration call for another huge crowd to meet in the Mount Auburn city park.

This year's celebration will also be a commemoration of the 100 years' history of Mount Auburn, for the village was founded on July 11, 1839, less than two months after the founding of Taylorville as the county seat of Christian county. Mount Auburn was seriously considered as possibility for the state capital at the time the center of government was moved from Vandalia to Springfield.

When the picnic was moved from Morganville because the hill there could no longer be leased, the treasury of the F. M. B. A. carried a profit of $200 from the 32 years it had sponsored the celebration. The funds were divided among the churches in Morganville, Blue Mound and Mount Auburn. The picnic was reorganized in Mount Auburn with a clean slate.

The gods have been kind to the picnic in the years of its existence always offering a clear sky on the first Saturday in August, according to Hi.

"Once or twice we've had rain." he states, "but never much. Never enough to wash out the picnic. We've always carried through our program." Which is some sort of a record for a picnic reaching over a period of 52 years.

On the programs have been many speakers, but none, Hi says, have discussed partisan religion or politics, even though there have been both ministers and politicians.

"To keep people happy at a picnic," he comments, "you must keep away two things - religion and politics. And so speakers here avoid dwelling much on those subjects."

This year's celebration opened last night with a dance in the park scheduled for today. Speakers this afternoon will be James Graham, Springfield; Harry B. Hershey, Taylorville lawyer; and Richard Simpson, Taylorville, Judge Charles Bliss of Taylorville, originally expected to speak will be unable to appear.

Other features on the day's program will be an old dress parade with awarding of prizes for the best beards and old-fashioned costume a performance by the Taylorville American Legion drum corps, and vaudeville skits.

It's the 52d picnic for Hi Montgomery. He helped to start them and he's still finishing them. Today as then, they are his high spot of the year.