The Good Lord blessed us with a most glorious day for this event! Our chefs were all winners: David (retired Pastor David I.) for his salmon, John (musician and architect) for his hamburger sliders, and Lloyd (The Popular Schneider) won the People’s Choice award by most impressing the attendees while cooking! Sliders, salmon, and pie plus paella, a bonus from John, what more could we ask for. Along with all the good food, we had a pie auction and were all over the top with deliciousness!!
The chef’s goodie baskets, which were open at exactly 2:00, included anchovy paste, ginger root, canned chipotle peppers, fresh peaches , and one very large zucchini!! They managed to incorporate these plus at least two items from the garden in their dishes. Considering they were told more than asked to participate, our chefs did it with great enthusiasm; we were truly impressed by the cooking talents of these three chefs.
Our judges were just as outstanding. We had Kathy Owens from Lacey Parks & Recreation (Summer Food Program at Mountain View Elementary), Michaela Winkley from the Thurston County Food Bank School Garden Program, Pastor Beth, and “Loretta” who was our surprise judge. All want the opportunity to do this again.
Throughout the day we enjoyed background music provided by our own talented musicians: Benjamin Martin, Zoe Chapman, and Skyler Cain. Thank you, thank you, it was great! And once again, Bergel Ziegler provided very ingenious Chopped table decorations! Many hands made light the work both in setup and cleanup. Many thanks to all of you!
We had fewer people attend than we had hoped for – just over 50. We did raise $6,555.93 plus Thrivent matching money of $1,800. Our goal was $15,000. All donations are still gladly accepted, it is never too late!! St. Mark has a history of always meeting the needs of special projects. Let’s keep it going.
It has been suggested that we do this again next year??? A grand time was had by all. Special thanks to Pam C (and her trusty side-kick Chuck) for taking the lead on this event and doing such a wonderful job of organizing it all!
