I took a personal day Friday and was up bright and early spray painting platters with chalkboard paint, gathering scissors, lighters, etc. Then I met my co-chair, Kelly (a speech teacher at my school who also took a personal day), her husband Forrest, and a sweet league memeber Jamie, and started loading up tons of HEAVY tables, and EVEN HEAVIER chairs onto a trailor. Once we got them all loaded we drove out the the fairgrounds and unloaded them.
Then I got busy arranging flowers for centerpieces, while Jamie, Kelly, and Forrest set up the tables and made a run to our church to pick up more tables and chairs. Thankfully, Myrna (who was off because her son was sick) stopped by and helped me figure out the flowers. Then started putting out table cloths and burlap.
I am happy to say that Kelly and I stayed super calm. We had fun and laughed a lot while getting everything done. It was a tiny bit stressfull as we realized how fast time was going by. We were both relieved that we started so early.
Soon, Thomas University athletes (who have to do community service hours) arrived and helped put out all the chairs. We finished setting up most of the tables, swept the floors, picked up trash and the caterer stopped by to set up his tables.
We left about 3:00 and planned to meet back up around 4:30, when the catering would arrive. I quickly drove and picked up 5 more table cloths, went back out to the fairgrounds and set the 5 tables. Cut a little more burlap, switched around the flowers and rushed home to get ready, QUICKLY. At this point neither of us had stopped to eat all day and we were jittery trying to rush around. :)
When I got back up there we quickly arranged the hay bales that were delivered outside (thankful for no rain and mild temps...we didn't need the space heaters). Kelly had already gotten the large trashcans in place. So, she lit the candles and I added more chairs to tables. The food smelled great. A HUGE shout out to Granddaddy's BBQ. Magically our fellow league members began arriving and took their places at tickets, raffle, arm bands, the bar, and got ready to serve food. Everyone was on time and people started arriving. The DJ played fun music, the deputy was walking around patrolling the place, and everyone seemed to enjoy the western theme.
We served around 400 people smoked chicken breasts, salt crusted baked potatoes, salad, rolls, and peach cobbler. I'd guess about 50 or so chose to just line up for the sale instead of eating. We could only seat about 180 inside, so Kelly and I were in charge of taking plates and encouraging people to go ahead and get inline or sit outside when they were finished. We also helped replenish tea and water. We were ready to take over a shift change that a few people were running late for, but everyone ended up showing up on time.
We got to go to the sale for a bit, but had to finish cleaning up and taking down all the tables and chairs, reload them, and take them back to where we got them. After we did that I went back out to the fairgrounds to give away the leftover food, and lock up. I got home around 11:30pm and was so stiff I could barely move...haha!
As I was driving to work in the mens department for the sale early the next morning. I was thinking about how I prayed for this event. I hope that Kelly and I showed great teamwork and professionalism. We never got upset with anyone or each other :), we worked so very hard...but with smiles on our faces. I hope that people realized that the reason for all of that was because of our love for the Lord and the hope that He gives us. He helped us every step of the way. Someone did comment on how calm and in control we seemed (I had to smile inside because that really wasn't always the case, but I was glad that it seemed that way to others). Then I was asked to do it again next year. I'll have to see about that! I'll probably want to pass the torch on! Ha!
We didn't run out of food, no tables collapsed, the line never got backed up, everyone always had a seat. We made a lot of money. We stayed calm and actually enjoyed the night. I would say that the event was a success!!!
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