2026 Ear Community Microtia and Atresia Summer Family Picnics
Ear Community hosts picnics every year around the world helping bring Microtia and Atresia families together. This year’s picnics will take place in the United States in Boston, Massachusetts/ San Diego, California/ Jeffersonville, Indiana/ San Antonio, Texas/ Broomfield, Colorado! It is very exciting for many families! Everyone enjoys attending our picnics and our Ear Community picnics always offer such a wonderful opportunity for Microtia and Atresia families to come together, share experiences with each other, and maybe even make a new friend. Medical professionals such as world renown Microtia and Atresia repair surgeons, anaplastologists, ENTs, audiologists, and therapists along with the world’s leading hearing device companies all come together to mingle with us at our picnics, helping educate us on all of our options including hearing loss.
Our events are held outdoors providing a relaxed environment and so the kids can play. Sometimes an indoor location is needed when collaborating with a surgeon conference.
A special thank you to our amazing Ear Community Sponsors!
Platinum Sponsors
Cochlear Americas
Oticon Medical
MED-EL USA
*** This year’s Ear Community events are made possible thanks to our organization’s proud Sponsors, donor organizations and our Community Contributors! Without the continued support of our sponsors, donor organizations and community contributors, we would not be able to bring our Microtia and Atresia families together at our events as we have done for the past decade. We also would not be able to work on all of the research and studies that our organization contributes to that help benefit our community in the future. Ear Community is thankful and appreciates the continued support from all of our supporters! Your support means the world to our families, our community and to our organization! ***
We look forward to seeing everyone at our Ear Community picnics this year!
Melissa Tumblin,
Founder and Executive Director
Ear Community
Microtia and Atresia Support Group on Facebook
2026 Picnics and Events
American Cleft Palate Association
83rd Annual Meeting
Boston, Massachusetts
March 25th-28th, 2026
* Ear Community will be presenting at this
conference
Massachusetts Ear Community Picnic
Boston, Massachusetts
Date: Saturday, June 6th 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
California Ear Community Picnic
San Diego, California
Date: Saturday, June 13th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
HLAA 2026 Convention
Louisville, Kentucky
Date: June 10th to 12th, 2026
* Ear Community will be recognized as an
Advocacy Impact Award Recipient
Indiana Ear Community Picnic
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Date: Saturday, June 27th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
Texas Ear Community Picnic
San Antonio, Texas
Date: Saturday, July 11th, 2026
Time: 11AM to 3PM
RSVP to Lauren at: LaurenEarCommunity@gmail.com
Colorado Ear Community Picnic
and collaborative surgeon conference
with Dr. Sheryl Lewin
Broomfield, Colorado
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2026
Time: 8AM to 5PM
* In collaboration with Dr. Sheryl Lewin’s Earicles Conference!
For picnic RSVP, email Melissa at: EarCommunity@gmail.com
For conference details, please click here.
National Microtia and Atresia Awareness Day
Every November 9th!
* Raise awareness with us throughout the United States and across
the world!
* See our home page links on when to order t-shirts and accessories
for our special day! (orders are usually during mid Sept. thru early Oct.)
Brookline, Massachusetts (USA)
July 6th, 2026
It was a beautiful day at our Boston Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic that took place on Saturday, June 6th! We had around 140 people join us on our special day! Our day was filled with some families meeting each other for the first time and children and adults who had never met someone just like them. A little girl who was having so much fun, thought it was her birthday! Our picnics are always special and they are special because of our beautiful community!
A special thank you to our beautiful picnic host family, The Furze Family (Kim, Pat, Lena and Bennett), for bringing our community together in Brookline! From booking our park to picking up all of our food and speaking with families, welcoming them and sharing their journey with all of us – THANK YOU for our special day! Bennett was born with unilateral microtia and atresia and is aided with a Ponto 5 Mini! I remember when the Furze Family attended our first Boston picnic years ago and Bennett was in a stroller. Today, he is confident boy and enjoys being goofy and has lots of friends! His family has attended every Boston picnic our organization has hosted and I love how Bennett’s Grandparents (Ellen and Leon Paderson and Lynne and Bill Furze) support him in every way and come to our picnics for Bennett! Kim’s mom/Bennett’s Grandma, Ellen, is also a proud Ear Community Board Member and has been for the past 6 years! Both, Ellen and Bennett were born with microtia and atresia! We look forward to seeing everyone in Boston again in 2028!
We had some extra special guests join us during our picnic! Dr. Ron Eavey and his beautiful wife, Dr. Sheila Desmond, joined us along with Dr. Syed Kamil and his wife, Sandra! Both, Drs. Eavey and Kamil, are world renowned when it comes to the study of genetics and microtia and to have them with us was incredible! Dr. Eavey is the reason why our organization was able to collaborate on our latest genetics research! Drs. Eavey and Kamil helped revolutionize genetics research when it comes to microtia! What an honor to have them with us on our special day! Dr. Eavey is one of our Ear Community Advisory Board Members!
A special thank you to James Hermsen of SuhHermsen Adaptive Eyewear Solutions for educating us on microtia eyewear for kids (and adults) and giving everyone glasses! The glasses that James makes are gifted through our organization’s Pax’s Eyewear Fund, which is made possible by the Gross Family! Thank you to Kaylee Dougherty of Boston Ocular for educating us prosthetic ears! Thank you to our entertainers for making our day extra special and so fun for our families! Thank you to SillySallys for making incredible balloons and for the beautiful tulip balloon for our Founder, Melissa! Thank you to Newton Face Painting for your beautiful artwork that made our kid’s faces and arms sparkle! Thank you to Malik the Magician for making us smile and laugh with your magic!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation and to the Omnium Foundation thanks to the Wilwerding and Cohen Family! Your support to our Ear Community Organization means the world to us and to the microtia and atresia community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors who help give back to our Ear Community, supporting our mission and the work we do for our community! Your support is appreciated more than you know!
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- Dr. Ron Eavey, Dr. Sheila Desmond, Dr. Syed Kamil and his wife,Sandra Kamil, with Melissa and Ally Tumblin and the Furze Family at the 2026 Boston Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic.
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- The 2026 Boston Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic
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- The 2026 Boston Ear Community picnic host family: The Furze Family (Pat, Kim, Lena and Bennett
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- Oticon Medical, Platinum Sponsor 2026
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- Kaylee Dougherty of Boston Ocular educating on prosthetic ears
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- Dr. Ron Eavey with the Tumblin and Wilwerding Cohen Family at the 2026 Boston Ear Community event
San Diego, California (USA)
June 13th, 2026
Thank you so much to all who attended our 2026 San Diego Ear Community Microtia and Atresia picnic on Saturday, June 13th!
A special thank you to our picnic host family – The Smyth Family (Alex, Jason and Sayer! Sayer and his family hosted an absolutely beautiful day for all of us! I love how Sayer is also supported by both sets of his Grandparents (Steve and Holly Gill and Beth and Bill Smyth)! Sayer and his family do not live in San Diego, but travelled to stay with family so they could host our special day in this area this year! In fact, Sayer’s family has traveled to multiple Ear Community picnics so Sayer can see his microtia and atresia friends each year! The Smyth Family makes it a point to find an Ear Community picnic nearby even if it is in a different state! Sayer’s Grandma, Beth, also helped pick up our food and get lots of items for our picnic to help Sayer’s family out so they could enjoy their vacation in San Diego! From booking our park to getting all of our food and speaking with families, welcoming them and sharing their journey with all of us – THANK YOU for being our 2026 California Ear Community picnic host family! Ally and I love you guys!
I hope everyone enjoyed learning all about the benefits of being aided with a bone anchored hearing system!
* An extra special THANK YOU to the William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, Blue Chip Foundation! Your support to the Ear Community Organization helping us continue the good work we do to help give back to the microtia and atresia community means the world to Ear Community! Thank you so much to our donors and contributors to our Ear Community – your support is appreciated and needed more than you know!
Thank you to Drs. Daniela Carvalho, Jason Qian, Ethan Frank, Alexis Bulcao and Catherine Moyer for joining us from Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego at our picnic! Thank you to Dr. Sheryl Lewin and Larissa Liverance for also joining us! What a surprise! We are so happy our families were able to mingle with all of you to get some answers to the questions they are looking for!
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- The 2026 San Diego, CA Ear Community picnic host family – The Smyth Family (Alex, Jason, Sayer, Holly, Steve, Beth and Bill).
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- Alex, Jason and Sayer Smyth, our San Diego Ear Community picnic host family
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- Rady Children’s Hospital at a San Diego Ear Community microtia and atresia picnic (Drs. Daniela Carvalho, Jason Qian, Ethan Frank with Melissa Tumblin of Ear Community and Alex and Jason Smyth)
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- Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization with Dr. Sheryl Lewin and Larissa Liverance.
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- Drs. Daniela Caralho and Jason Qian of Rady Children’s Hospital with Melissa Tumblin of the Ear Community Organization (2026)
