International Food Festival

The barbecue sauce of course did get made, and we showed up at Mall del Rio yesterday morning ready to rock and roll. We had no idea what to expect, and in fact didn't know that the convention center at the mall even existed. We were happy to see a big sign announcing the event.



We were the first to arrive at our booth, so Cynthia posed for a pic in front of our sign.




Then the rest of the crew arrived and we set up shop and got organized.



I got a chance to wander around a bit before everything got started. I was amazed both at the size of the venue and the number of cuisines represented.




There was a large open area with all the booths and two enormous dining rooms with flowers on the tables and wait staff ready to serve.



Then the crowd started arriving.




And we quickly got busy. How busy? See the rib tray? The 20 racks of ribs we prepared sold out in less than an hour.




In no time the whole place was packed.




Even ghosts were showing up.





$25,000 to $30,000 was raised for FASEC (Foundation for the Assistance of Cancer Patients) in about 4 hours. We were incredibly impressed with how smoothly everything ran and the helpful attitude of every volunteer. It was fantastic to be around so many happy people having a wonderful afternoon. We look forward in the coming year to continuing to give our time to this awesome organization.