# Feeding the Entire Town of Erie Colorado



## bbally (Jan 1, 2010)

We were asked to feed the town of Erie, Colorado. This was a large 
event as we expected 1200 to 1800 attendees. Two hard things, the whole 
town was invited, but who would come? And the park has no water this time of the year. The second was easy to solve as we have self contained water with hot water heaters. The first? That was a little problematic as 
we have to cook to cover it all.......


And so we find ourselves at the normal first stop of any catering! The 
fueling station, Zane is hauling the supply trailer and I am hauling the newly received Southern Pride Cooker, this is a 1100 model which we added to our line up next to the 750 model we have owned for several years.


We have already both worked a full day, it is 8 PM and Erie is about 300 
miles north east. We will be there and we will wow them. Along for 
the ride our helping hand, Calvin... no pics of Calvin but he is a typical high 
school student.



































We drive through the night and arrive in Longmont Colorado at the hotel. 
Check in and drop to sleep immediately. 5:30 AM comes early and we are up 
and around, a quick stop for breakfast and then the work begins. To give 
you an idea of the event staff:



Food......Zane, Bob and Calvin Tents and site set up.... Don and his crew 
of six hands...... serving staff will be the CSU band doing it for a fund 
raiser. About 16 young adults... two of which have worked for Zane and I 
since they were in High School. A long run of pictures here as the set up 
is explained best in pictures. The kitchen and prep tents are first as 
Beef Brisket, Pulled pork and smoke sausage served with Slaw, Fruit salad, and 
potato salad all take time to prep for 1800 people.


















































The crew starts to set the site for the party.... we need our kitchen and 
prep tents up first so we can get started when the food arrives. So they 
start to hammer out the area by laying the framing for the tents in the areas 
they will be erected. As the time goes by the place gets to looking like 
an event will happen. We begin positioning equipment in its final spot for 
the next days event. It will take all of Friday to prep and cook the 
foods.


























































The weather was fantastic and stayed that way for the entire weekend. 
That was really great... a problem with the Sysco truck. Suppose to be on 
location at 9 AM.... 10:30 AM no truck... fire up the phones, heads are gonna 
roll!


































This kind of work has the crews hungry, I have been working on getting lunch 
ready as we work on locating our Sysco truck. I have worked many time with
Florian Wehrli of Chefs Basket....I 
know he uses Sysco regularly as we do, but he uses this Sysco House out of 
Denver, we are normally serviced out of Salt Lake City. I place a call to
Chef Florian and ask if he can 
get his rep to help us out. "Any thing you need Bob" as I expected the 
answer would be.. I love that guy! I continue on with my lunch making for 
the crew... Zane continues to find butts to chew about the missing grocery 
truck.


Nothing fancy for the crew, just working food!!! Polish Sausage, rolls, 
baked beans and Kraut! Plus chips and gatorade.

look for part 2

Chef Bob Ballantyne

The Cowboy and The Rose Catering

Grand Junction, Colorado, USA


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## matt1124 (Jan 5, 2010)

quite an undertaking. howd they like it?


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## bbally (Jan 5, 2010)

It continues on here

And finishes here


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## deltadude (Jan 5, 2010)

Nice to see a true Professional added to the mix here at SMF.  Nice photo journey, thanks for posting the story and pics.


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