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LobsterFest 2003

LobsterFest 2003 - Top Event of the Year Again!

Just shy of 200 alumni, family, and friends attended the Chapter's 29th Annual LobsterFest cookout on Sunday, June 8th, at Red Top Mountain State Park in North Georgia.

Last year’s location at the City of Atlanta Water Works facility was not available this year due to an ever tightening reservations policy. Neither location was available for Saturday, our usual day for the event. In the long run, things worked out for the better. The weather on Saturday was off-and-on rainy, while Sunday afternoon’s weather was sunny and warm! (I guess someone was looking out for us all along.)

We only messed up one person’s schedule, that of national USNA Alumni Association President and CEO George Watt ’73. He and his wife were planning to attend this year, but could not make it on Sunday. We did, however, have a representative from Annapolis in attendance, Ron Casey ’75, and his wife Gerry. Ron is on the USNA admissions committee staff. Ron and Gerry looked to have had a great time. Ron could be seen running around snapping pictures, and later helped the combined classes of the decade of the 70s win the trivia contest.

This year it took 310 live Maine lobsters to feed the assembled crowd. As usual, the lobsters were flown in direct from Captain Morrill's in Brewer Maine a day before the event and "put up for the night" in a local Kroger reefer. Also along for the trip were 25 pounds of mussels! Got to have an appetizer you know. Marilyn McCallum provided her custom-made sauce for the mussels.

Also available on the serving line was a terrific home-made salad prepared by our "kitchen queens" from fresh vegetables they sliced and diced earlier in the day. Hundreds of ears of corn and fresh bread (brought by the Slemenda’s) was also consumed by day’s end! In addition, the kitchen queens sliced up so many cucumbers that they had to quickly conjure up a cucumber salad and add that to the menu. If you check out the digital pictures below, you’ll see why these ladies were dubbed the “kitchen queens”. They were all wearing matching tiaras on their heads. Three of the tiaras actually had flashing rhinestones mounted in them! (Courtesy of Linda Schultz).

Our kitchen queens were: Linda Schultz (wife of Bob '71), Sue Rentz (wife of Bill '55), Mary Lou Blair (friend of Sue Rentz), Karen Frederick (wife of Steve '72), Helena Herger (wife of Mike ’90), Ann Caldwell (wife of Stewart ’65), Carole Rowland (wife of Mitch ’71), and the "leader of the pack" Marilyn McCallum (wife of Carl '60).

Volunteers started arriving shortly after 11:00 AM to make preparations for the 3:00pm lobster dinner. Check-in setup, bar set-up, cooking equipment setup, corn shucking, salad making, table setup, decorations, and various other duties were handled by a team of dedicated folks who all put in a full day's work to put on the year's favorite event.

Our check-in crew was Chapter Treasurer Nick Ward ’74 and his friend Jean Jacob, plus Nancy and Johns Jaudon ’55. Our bar set-up and tenders were Pat and Jack Clay ’56 and Susan and Jim Slemenda ‘66 . Helena Herger seemed to handle the decorations all by herself this year!

Our hard working lobster/mussel/corn cooks were Steve Frederick ’72, Al Jones ‘67, Mitch Rowland ’71, and Mike Herger ’90. A very special mention goes to our four young cook’s assistants, Will and Russell Cobble (sons of Anne and Alex Cobble ‘76), and Austin McElroy and #2 son (help – I need his name) (sons of Mary ‘87and Terry ’86 McElroy). These four youngsters spent nearly the entire day unpacking and potting the lobsters, then stacking them into the aluminum serving trays and carrying them inside to the serving line. What a great help they were! See the pictures of them below for evidence of same.

We were without out usual hamburger and hotdog cook, Mike Donohoo ‘65, who couldn’t make it this year, so the hamburger and hotdog cooking task somehow defaulted to Carl McCallum ’60, and Chapter President Bob Schultz ’71, who according to longstanding Naval tradition should have only been required to stand around, look important, and supervise! Things just aren’t the same as they used to be!

Special thanks to Paul Hurst ’62, for preparing the trivia contest questions for us again this year. Chapter VP Lorie Moore ’64 was actually assigned the task of conducting the contest, which was not easy. People were quite happy to be eating and drinking, thank you! “You want to play what?” most shouted. However once the teams by decades of classes were assembled, the spirit of competition raged and the contest was on. The winners: classes of the 70s!!!

Musical entertainment was provided this year by the Hanson's, a local husband-and-wife DJ team. The standard YMCA dance was performed late in the day by the kitchen queens and a few other brave volunteers. Also, a spontaneous line dance broke out shortly thereafter!

Many thanks to the McCallum's for coordinating the event again this year, even while both being “on the mend”. And many thanks to all of the volunteers who worked so hard to make this event possible again this year! All those who carried/delivered food or supplies with their pick-up trucks and SUVs. (The McCallum sons with the lobsters and mussels. Jim Slemenda '66 was our beer/wine/soda man again this year!)

Bravo-Zulu to all! (If I've left anyone out, please e-mail me and let me know. You all deserve to be listed here for your tremendous efforts.)

The following digital pictures were taken by Chapter President Bob Schultz ’71, which is why he (me) is not in any of them!

Click on a thumbnail image to view a full sized picture.

Red Top Mountain State Park - Group Shelter #2	Check-in team.
Folks start arriving.	Open bar... is open!
Lobster pot row takes shape.	Lobster pot row - the business end of LobsterFest!
The cooks! Steve Frederick '72, Mike Herger '90, Al Jones ‘67, and Mitch Rowland ’71	Lobster cook assistants: Cobble sons and McElroy sons.
The live sea critters arrive!	Kitchen staff arrives.
The "Kitchen Queens", complete with tiaras!	The three amigos: Linda Schultz, Helena Herger, and Susan Rentz.
Chapter Trustee Bill Rentz '55, and two classmates, Johns Jaudon and Jim Todd.	Our DJs, the Hansons.
The serving line opens.	More serving line.
Mussels galore... eat up!	The Fitgerald table. Good seats, huh buddy?!
Eatin' mussels!	Happy campers!
The masses assemble!	The McElroy table.
Ready to eat!!!	The Moore table.
The Stark table.	A spontaneous line dance errupts!
The traditional YMCA dance, lead by the kitchen queens.

Thanks to Michael Lester '85 for taking the following pictures and sharing them with us:

Al Jones '67 cookin'	Steve Frederick '72 cookin'
Chapter President Bob Schultz '71, supervising, in accordance with longstanding naval tradition!	Lobsters cookin'! Just about says it all! Look at those babies!
Assistant cooks, Cobble sons.	Will Cobble - serious!
Will Cobble - goofy!	Russell Cobble - in here right?!
Kids retreat.	MREs (Mussels Ready to Eat!)
Back room crowd.	Front room crowd.
Serving line.