Supporters hope the event - billed as an old-fashioned New England family picnic - will show the importance of the base to Maine and New Hampshire families.

"It will be a carry-it-in, carry-it-out event," McDonough said.

The free event will feature entertainment including musical performances by The Late Great Planet Earth, Johnny Bubar and the Wolf Band, Dennis Boyd, Joe Freda and others. There will also be several shows by "Maximum Velocity Bike Show" featuring BMX stunt riders.

Those attending are encouraged to wear their yellow "Save Our Shipyard" T-shirts. T-shirts also will be available at the event.

The picnic is one of a series of community events that shipyard workers and their supporters have staged since the Defense Department recommended the 205-year-old yard’s closure on May 13.

On June 1, nearly 8,000 shipyard supporters lined the streets of Kittery, Maine, to welcome four members of the base closure commission who had come to tour the yard.

On July 6, a sea of yellow T-shirts hit the road, with thousands descending upon the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for a base closure commission hearing.

Most recently, on July 26, a few thousand shipyard supporters rallied on Walker Street in Kittery, Maine, to greet two more commissioners who had come to tour the yard.

Portsmouth Herald Staff and Wire reports

GO & DO

What: Save Our Shipyard-sponsored picnic to support the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

When: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Where: Open field off Corporate Drive across from the Redhook Brewery at Pease International Tradeport.

Details: Participants are asked to bring cold lunches rather than grills or other cooking gear.

The President just approved massive energy and highway bills loaded with pork 'to spur the economy' while defense workers and thier families and communities might be asked to sacrifice everything to save relatively nothing. What about our economy? It's a slap in the face. I hope everyone will go to the picnic Saturday to show they feel about this.
Among the pork are huge gifts to already thriving energy companies to build more nuke plants. Those nukes will be terrorist targets which need future defense.

Welcome to pork barrel politics! Unless you have a huge lobby with lots of money to donate to the campaigns of George Bush and the like you get nothing. Who cares that you protect this country and do it safely and under budget. Obviously it's not about budget. As shipyard families get yourselves positioned now, while you still have a good paying job. Do for yourself, don't expect any help from the government for the hard working American. Remember this next elections!

As they say: DO THE MATH! This BRAC is advertised to save 2.44 billion per year. The GAO says it's lucky to be 1.34 billion. (some savings won't occur because of military personnel just being shuffled around. other expenses include community aid and environmental cost overruns) We pay farmers to grow tobacco 1.5 billion per year! The war in Iraq costs 5 billion per MONTH!

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