The 2016 Smithsonian Staff Picnic

The Picnic, Thomas Cole, 1845. Courtesy The Brooklyn Museum. Note: This is not the actual 2016 Smithsonian Staff Picnic. In case you were confused.

A beautiful day for the 2016 Smithsonian Staff Picnic. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Staff from the Office of Equal Employment and Minority Affairs brought along some future Smithsonian employees to enjoy the picnic. From left, Syvera O’Pharrow, Jordan Giles, Mark Cowen, Emma Cowan, Shahin Nemazee, Leela Nemazee, Erin Nemazee and Reza Nemazee. (Photo courtesy Shahin Nemazee)

“All About Plants” was the first discussion in the SI Stories tent at the 2016 Staff Picnic. Participants included (from left) moderator Jim Deutsch, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage; Sarah Hedean, living collections manager for Smithsonian Gardens; Sylvia Orli, digitization manager for Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History and Mary Savig, curator of manuscripts at the Archives of American Art. (Photo courtesy Jim Deutsch)

Members of the Smithsonian Alumni Committee: from left, Mary Tanner, Jim Hobbins, Amy Kotkin and Tom Lawrence. (Photo by Holly Williamson)

Members of the Smithsonian Alumni Committee enjoy a tour of the exhibition “A New Moon Rises” led by Bob Craddock of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the National Air and Space Museum. (Photo courtesy Marry Tanner)

These happy kids belong to staff from the Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management. brought their children to the picnic. We know your mother  (and father, Ajay Gulati) are very proud, Siddharth. Back row: Saihai Bahra, Pavi Bahra and Neet Bahra. Front row: Sidartth Gulati and Malayah Clarke. (Photo by Steven Cohn)

OSHEM kids pose with Nancy Bechtol, director of the Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations at the 2016 Smithsonian Staff picnic. Their parents work for the Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management. From left, Pavi Bahra, Siddharth Gulati, Nancy Bechtol, Saihai Bahra and Neet Bahra. (Photo by Stevn Cohn)

Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton joins a group of interns from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden for a group photo at the 2016 Staff Picnic. From left, Madeline Feller, Samuel Shapiro, Morgan Brittain, Dr. Skorton, Gabrielle Hick and Lingfei Ren. (Photo by Jacob Kim)

The DWQ Jazz Band performed at the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage during the Smithsonian Staff Picnic July 6. Led by founder Dave Walker and co-founder Rex Little of Smithsonian Facilities, band members are (from left) Peter Frassrand, Harry Clean Cut Clark, Walker, Harry Williams, Pookie Jenkins, Bubbles Dean and Little. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Rex Little, Construction Control Representative for Smithsonian Facilities, plays trombone with the DWQ Jazz band at the Smithsonian Staff Picnic. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

A patient representative of the Smithsonian Diving Program models some of the gear used by scientific divers in the Congress of Scholars tent. It is difficult to recruit volunteers to wear a wetsuit in 90 percent humidity. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Scientific Diving Officer Doug Schleiger would rather be underwater. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Julie Beals and Nguyen Rosa of the Office of Fellowships and Internships take a brief break in the Congress of Scholars tent at the 2016 Smithsonian Staff Picnic. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

T.L. “Swamp Fox” Merrion and Bradford “Fat Axe Lee” Smith (known as plain old Trevor and Brad by their colleagues at the Asian Cultural history Program at the Natural History Museum), play blues-infused ragas inspired by their journeys abroad. Trevor, left, plays 12-string guitar and harmonica; Brad plays guitar and the accordion-like harmonium. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

John Barrat, of the Office of Communications and External Affairs, listens as Emily Jacobson, paper and photographs curator for the Freer and Sackler Galleries, and Lee Glazer, curator of American art at FSG ,explain how they use radiography and UV spectometry to conserve the watercolors of James McNeill Whistler. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

The members of the band Old Goat have been playing together off and on since high school. From left, Jordan Alpert, Pat Ponton, Senior Construction Control Manager for the American Indian Museum and the Castle, Joe Ponton, D.J. Plaskin, Bill Brown and Steve Petro. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Veterinary Pathology Fellow Michael Cruz explains how the National Zoo has been in the forefront of research into the Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus, a major killer of elephants both in human care and in the wild. (Photo by Alex di Giovanni)

Carolyn Tepolt (left), a post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center poses with her winning cake and Barbara Faust, director of Smithsonian Gardens.

And the winner is: “Increase and Profusion” by Carolyn Tepolt, a post-doc at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Institute. (Photo courtesy Chandra Heilman)

The crowd clamors for a taste of the cakes submitted to the Icing on the Cake competition at the 2016 Smithsonian Staff picnic. (Photo courtesy Chandra Heilman)