One of the most unique aspects of Bainbridge Island is the BHS All-Class Reunion, which will be held on Sept. 5 at IslandWood as part of its five-year cycle. The event started in the early 1980s when Priscilla Callaham and several other members of the BHS Class of ’54 decided to have a bigger party than the normal one-class reunions.

The get-together is unusual primarily because people who grew up here, especially island natives who did so before the population began burgeoning in the 1970s, are tight-knit and connected because, well, for many, many reasons the island is a special place.

In its heyday, as many as 1,000 former classmates would gather on an August day at Kiana Lodge, where cars, vans and even buses would deliver them for a formal picnic. Priscilla, who moved to Poulsbo two years ago after her husband’s death, chaired the event for 15 years and, by all accounts, had well-honed organizational skills.

“What we did was to put every class rep for the first 50 years at BHS to work sending out letters to their own classmates,” she said. “No emails like they do now – that’s too impersonal. It worked because we had so many people involved. It was a really big deal back then.”

It’s still an important part of being a BHS graduate, but with about 400 ex-classmates expected to attend this year’s party it’s obvious that the sheen has dulled a bit over the years.

Tari Laes, who is this year’s co-chair with Dawn Harris, said it has become difficult to contact people (beginning this year with the Class of ‘76) these days for a multitude of reasons. She expects Kay Nakao – a graduate of the Class of ’37 who likes to say her age is an unlisted number – to be the most venerable attendee this year.

Going forward, Priscilla will return to the helm for the 2014 All-Class Reunion. “I want to bring it back to what it was,” she said. “We’ll get the reps involved again and see if that makes a difference.”

Hopefully it will.