Several past Corn Boil Chairs had ideas and suggestions on how we could or should organize things to have a most successful event. We took their suggestions under consideration, watched many YouTube videos and then did our own thing.
We met with our committee and began planning the most amazing Corn Boil ever. We had a great committee and now we have some great friends, Karen and Zane S. We were small in number, but mighty in spirit.
#1 Key to a successful event is the advertising.
I appointed myself head of the advertising committee, a committee of one. I love to create things on the computer. I'm not that creative and I am prone to taking an idea and over using it. The good thing is that usually I am using an idea for different audiences, ie: YW, RS or week of the family. I enjoy taking a simple picture and wallah. . . This is the 20" x 30" poster we used and then we ordered 4x6 prints from Sams Club and handed them out at church for people to put on their refrigerator as a reminder or hand out when they went Home and Visiting Teaching.
We had nothing to do with choosing the location since the ward had already booked a pavilion at Legion Park, but it was awesome! It had a beautiful garden and a play area that would have any child begging to go to the park to play.
Pavilion #1
Before
After!!!
Karen was in charge of decorations and did an awesome job of decorating the pavilion. Everyone was impressed. I think they were accustomed to the traditional white plastic on the tables. Karen took all of the wildflowers out of her garden and it was so pretty and fit the whole "Corn Boil" country theme perfectly. (I'm still enjoying her centerpieces in my kitchen windows.
#3 Food, Fun and Fellowship
The evening before the Corn Boil we invited Zane, Karen and the missionaries over and promised pizza in exchange for helping shuck corn. I thought it would take hours to shuck the 120+ ears of corn, but the job was done in less than 20 minutes. It took longer to cook the pizza. (Don't tell, I think I only shucked 3 ears.)
We made our lists, checked them twice and we were off to Sams Club and the grocery store, back to Sams Club, and a few more grocery stores. 120+ ears of corn, 2# of real butter, 72 Nathan's Hot Dogs, 45 Polish Sausages, 64 Hot Dog Buns, 36 BallPark Brat Buns, one little moment of friction when we had different ideas about the buns, one let's start over and move on, chips, more chips, sauerkraut, ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish, chili, cheese, onions, Brazilian limeade, 60# of ice, Chinette plates, cups, napkins, knives, forks, spoons and Matt's famous baked beans for the potluck table.
(By the way, more than one person commented on how good the Brat Buns Matt chose were. I was fine getting the cheaper, but still good buns. We compromised and got some of both. Next year we will get all Bratt Buns.)
Time flies when you're having fun. Before we knew it it was time to head to the park and get set-up. It took us two trips with two vehicles to et everything we needed to the park.
Caution: Men at work!
Matt and Zane handled the cooking and did a great job of keeping the food coming. They were very busy, busy boys. Thanks to Jay H. for running interference and calming the stormy seas during the stressful, crazy moments and getting the hot food from the cooks to the table! His help allowed me to mingle and help keep things flowing at the buffet table.
We stressed a bit about the activities, but for the most part everyone enjoyed just hanging out. The park was so busy, the area we had planned for volleyball and other activities was being used for parking most of the day. By late afternoon things cleared out a bit and there was a some volleyball.
Some of the men were talking at the men's choir practice the week before the Corn Boil and wished that there was a way to have some live music. Matt, Mr. Above and Beyond, made it happen. It really made the afternoon enjoyable. Br. W played our keyboard. He's very talented and the music really helped set a nice tone. There was talk of having Matt's drums there also, but time and logistics made it difficult to pull off. Matt was so busty cooking he really wouldn't have had time to play anyway.
It seemed like ten minutes after we put the cloths on the tables, it was time to take them off. The picnic was supposed to run from 4pm until 6pm, but it ran almost twice as long. It was wonderful to see everyone having such a great time. It was nice to be a part of it all.
Hard to believe it's all over.
Many people commented that it was the best Corn Boil ever. Someone counted about 80 people there. One Brother told us that one year they only had 8 people come. I have a hard time believing that that's true. It was nice to have so many people come out.
When the party was over I felt like we were on rewind. We had to undo all that had been done, load our vehicles, make two trips to and from the park. Unload and then clean-up most of the mess. There was a pile of dishes. Everyone pitched in and I was so grateful to get them done and not have to wake up to a mess of dishes on Sunday. Thanks family!
All of the lists and planning really played off. We were crazy busy the week leading up to the Corn Boil, but all of the preparation was worth having a successful event. Matt is very detail oriented and that makes a huge difference when trying to do something of this magnitude. Things went so well Matt's ready to do it again next year.
I've been married to Matt long enough that I shouldn't have been surprised when at 9pm, while we were cleaning up he asked if we wanted to get out and get a bite to eat. All I wanted to do was go to bed, but after all the help in the kitchen and coming to the realization that Matt had been so busy cooking that he hadn't done much eating at the Corn Boil, we headed to Friendly's for a late dinner and treat. FYI the staff lived up to their name and even though we arrived a few minutes before 10pm and were the only ones there when they closed at 11pm they were truly Friendly.
P.S. Should Corn and Boil be used in the same sentence when referring to food?
No comments:
Post a Comment