Wednesday, June 4th - it was two years in the making and it worked!

...and now for the rest of the story! 

Friday morning of the conference dawned warm and sunny. I was up bright and early and had lots to do. I had some help first thing in the morning that made the day get off to a great start. First was approximately 150 phyllo tart shells to be filled later with cream cheese. Then it was prep the ingredients for bruschetta, toast the bread and pack it all up for transport. A final check of multiple lists and the car was loaded with all that I could comfortably fit in. I was meeting someone at the rec centre at 10:00 and they arrived right on time. The hall looked great now that the dishes and glass ware was all on the tables. Brenda met me there after her bus run and we worked until time for her to go home to make lunch for the guys.

I puttered at the last minute jobs while I waited for Lloyd to come over. It was actually a pretty relaxing part of the day. Everything that could be done was done and I was just waiting to go home, shower and change and pick up the potatoes and shredded cabbage. When Lloyd arrived I headed home to finish up there and got back in time to have Lloyd help me mix the salads and put them into the serving bowls. He started the coals for the BBQ as he had to cook 42 steaks. (We had done a couple of test runs on our theory of starting the steaks on the BBQ and finishing them in the convection oven. The problem we had was that only half of the steaks would fit on the grill at one time and we wanted them to all be done at the same time.) It worked.
The lobsters arrived and Pam set about splitting them so no one needed lobster crackers.

As we were doing that in the kitchen, our friends arrived with the oysters. They had a fancy little display that held buckets of ice and the oysters rested on top of the ice. Jackie looked ever so dashing in his fisherman's hat and Helena was all set to pass them around. Turns out they were scooped up so quickly that there was no need to pass them around. Instead she aided in keeping things tidy and organized by removing the empty shells as needed. Several people wanted to pose for pictures with the fisherman and he loved it!
Our dance teacher, who is also a fiddler, arrived and was sat near the door to fiddle as guest arrived. I was only down there once but judging by the noise level of the room, it was a pretty happy group. Of course, the bar was also open down there and everyone was thirsty after a busy day in seminars.

Zach Bell, one of the morning hosts from a local radio station, HOT 105.5, was our MC for the evening and he did an amazing job of keeping things on track and running smoothly. While everyone was downstairs slurping down oysters, our musicians arrived - Margie Carmichael and Roy Johnstone - both very talented folks who quickly got busy  setting up.

When the time came for our guest to come upstairs, Roy started fiddling and that set the tone for the whole evening. Hands were clapping and toes were tapping as everyone searched out their table. It was a great crowd who were obviously in a party mood and believe me, that's exactly what they had!

The meal was served family style, a little out of the ordinary for the rec centre but it seemed to work. We delivered the steaks and lobsters as the diners filled their plates with potato salad and coleslaw.  I think all will agree the highlight of the meal had to be dessert - sticky date pudding. Once again, I pushed the rec centre staff a little out of their comfort zone. Pam had never made it before and it did present a couple of challenges that she was easily able to conquer. She made the sauce while we were serving dinner. Once people were almost done eating, we plated and served the warm pudding and hot sauce. We had so many people rave about the dessert. I think the majority had never had it before and were thrilled with it. In fact I sent a copy of the recipe to the conference coordinator to send out to everyone after, as so many people had asked for the recipe.

We took a short break and our guests obligingly stacked dishes on tables at the sides of the hall so that we

Ms. Vista, Jordan and Brenda at dance class on Halloween

could get a bit of a head start on washing those. Then our program got under way. Our musicians did an amazing job and the crowd loved them. Half way through their set, they took a break and Jordan got up on stage to step dance. It started off quietly but as the dance got faster and faster, the crowd got noisier and noisier in their appreciation of his talents. Many people were standing up and clapping and cheering, and a lot were either taking photos or videos of him. When he finished, I, dressed as Ms. Vista, a character from long ago and far away in my IAAP days, came strutting through the room with a water bottle to give our tired dancer. I got up onstage and we began our little skit we had planned ahead of time. I was wearing purple crocs and asked if he could teach me a couple of dance steps. He had my tap shoes in a bag and after I put then on, he showed me a couple of steps and then we were off and running, well sort of. I missed one of the steps in the dance but it just looked like I was really doing it for the first time. It wasn't perfect but it was fun and the few people in the crown that remember Ms. Vista from so many years ago enjoyed it. I was greeted with hugs from the Grand River chapter as I left the stage and returned to my kitchen duties. Carol and Lina knew about it but no one else did so it was great fun.

After a couple of short speeches, the the merriment continued. I knew the party was a success when a couple of ladies from Newfoundland started a conga line that quickly grew and made it's way around and through the crowd.

By all accounts it was a great success, much more so than I had ever imagined and I am extremely thankful for all the help that I received both before and during the event. Lloyd, Lina and Carol were a huge help but the greatest thanks has to go to Brenda for helping every step along the way since this crazy idea took shape. My only regret is that I don't have pictures. I know some of the girls do and I will try to get some sent to me. In the meantime, it was a great time but I'm really glad it's finally over!