A crowd of about 5,000 showed up recently for the third annual community picnic hosted by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. at the Harford Fair Grounds in Susquehanna County, PA. Attendees included residents in the Marcellus Shale area, oil and gas industry representatives and their suppliers and a healthy contingent of Cabot employees manning displays from shale rock samples to compressed gas equipment.

The community outreach event, including free food and beverages, was just down the road a piece from the infamous Dimock Township, where the company, the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spent years skirmishing over hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and its potential effects on drinking water.

The legal issue finally became history recently (see Shale Daily, July 26), and from the size of the crowd it appeared Cabot’s campaign outside of the courts and regulatory arena was also successful. The event was attended by more than 5,000 people this year, Cabot said.

Cabot, which began operations in Susquehanna County in 2006, had drilling equipment on display, including a nine-cylinder tube trailer used to help fuel rigs with compressed natural gas, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune. The company got help for the event from suppliers such as Baker-Hughes and GasSearch Drilling Services, as well as local organizations, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and a branch of the Lion’s Club.

Representatives from industry groups, including America’s Natural Gas Alliance, American Petroleum Association and the Marcellus Shale Coalition also attended.