Behind the Scenes

During the summer, I enjoy going to various Bazaars held by Catholic churches for their annual fund raisers. It helps the parish plus  lots of fun! Yesterday I happened to enter the kitchen of the church to find my friend preparing Mexican food for her booth. I was shocked at the three crock pots filled with cheese for nachos, two huge kettles with beans, dishes with chopped onions and tomatoes.
Green and red salsa in large plastic containers that would
be poured into typical Mexican dishware. She had two elderly men taking the large pots to the booth which was situated about one half block away. The circumference of the metal pots looked to be about thirty inches while the height looked about two feet tall so I know they had to be heavy.

While I watched her work to prepare the food, the phone would ring. More cheese was needed or the booth was running out of meat or salsa or whatever was necessary for the Mexican dishes. "Where are your helpers," I asked. She shrugged her shoulders and I said, "Do you want me to help?" As she started to tell me what she needed for me to do, two women arrived and began chopping and cutting. I told her since she now had help I was going to attend the bazaar. She said, "I do have one favor to ask you, would you take pictures of the booths, from all angles?"

I told her I did not have my camera but I would use my phone. Strange that I always have my camera and the one time I should have had my camera, I had forgotten to put it in my purse. As I walked to the grounds where the bazaar was being held, the two men were returning to the kitchen to pick up more food. It seemed like a constant picking up food and taking it to the booth. One man, who must have walked back and forth many times, told me he was eighty-one years old!

Looking at the bazaar with all the booths, no one would guess the hard work being carried out behind the scenes. The sausage sandwich which is popular at the functions was a matter of putting the patties on the grill. It looked like forty at a time were grilled to keep up with the line of customers.

After yesterday's bazaar I now have an awareness of how much work goes into making a bazaar a success!