Ward Reunion - Saturday's success, part 2

While current and past members of the ward were enjoying themselves at the park, things were happening at the ward house.


Food which had been purchased one or two days earlier was brought together in the ward refrigerator and kitchen.
Equipment was solicited from ward members so that we'd have enough rice cookers ad roasters on hand.

And a grand job was done by a couple of teens in great shape putting up 225 chairs around 27 tables, then covering the tables with plastic or fabric tablecloths. We had used every chair in the building except those in the Relief Society room.

Several ward members had agreed to put together display stations for visitors and current ward members to see and enjoy or recollect happy memories from the past.


Two hours before the event was to start, we fired up the grills and the ovens to begin cooking the pork loin roasts. Carolyn purchased enough food to feed 300 although we've never had that many to a ward dinner.

In addition to propane barbecues, we were able to borrow a wood burning grill that we large enough we probably could have put most, if not all, of the roasts. As it turned out, it proved helpful as a backup cooker.

Shortly after the start time of 6:00 Carolyn called the group to order and asked our new bishop to give the opening prayer and blessing on the food. She then explained that the program for the evening was that there would be no program. It was an evening designed for visiting.

She also suggested that the food was ready for serving so people could either get in a long line now or come get it when they want to. We figured they'd all come at once so we had set up 3 food lines with servers behind the table to serve the food. That sped up the line enough that except for right at first there really wasn't a long line.


There were a few people who enjoyed looking at the displays. Thinking back on it, it probably would have been a good idea to set up the food lines to go past the displays.



Soon the hall was full of people eating, talking, visiting, or just relaxing. Although we estimate that there were about 275 to 300 attendees and only 225 chairs we didn't have a seating problem. So many people were up and visiting that some tables saw a second and even a third sitting.


Carolyn was busy the whole evening making sure that everything worked seamlessly. Between her efforts and those of the Activities Committee and Reunion Advisory Committee, the evening went off without a hitch. Most of the ward were able to enjoy meeting old friends.