The All Star Game Part 1: The Set Up

(post, Maggie Restivo)

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In July the big buzz in St. Louis was the MLB All-Star game. It had been decades since St. Louis had hosted the game so everyone was very excited. As the game drew closer the town was tying up lose ends, and cleaning up the streets. Restaurants were spit shinning the silver and putting out the good china (you know, the kind you use when company is coming!) The space surrounding the new Busch Stadium started to fill with sponsor tents, MLB activities, a small Cooperstown exhibit, and a very large hard walled tent. The very large hard wall tent was surrounded by two smaller tents (and by smaller I mean large, just not very large). A very large arch was painted on the floor of the very large hard walled tent. As walls went up on one of the smaller, large tents cold air began to flow into it.

While all of this was happening I was in a meeting two blocks away. There were about 50 of us corralled in the now vacant Bowling Hall of Fame. We were volunteers from the local culinary schools, and the Chefs de Cuisine of St. Louis. I had signed up, through my school, to volunteer my time prepping food and to work the Commissioner's Gala and the V.I.P. party prior to the All-Star game. The meeting was a meet and greet with the chefs in charge of the events, a broad run down of the weekend prep shifts and the actual events. We got our pictures taken for our badges (which allowed us access to anywhere and everywhere food was being served).

We were not told anything about the menu but we were told how the main tent was going to be set up. The very large arch, painted on the floor of the very large main tent, would be the pathway that led guest around the tent. As guests worked their way around the arch they would pass through different areas of the tent. The different areas of the tent would be represented by different areas of St. Louis. Those areas included: The Boat House (located in Forest Park), The Hill (St. Louis' Italian neighborhood), The Central West End (a very urban neighborhood), The Loop (a very eclectic neighborhood) , Soulard (St. Louis' New Orleans-ish neighborhood), a Busch Stadium snack area and a St. Louis Sweets dessert bar section. After we were given all of that information we all knew the menu would be massive and that would be preparing 7 different styles of food.

Oh boy...What had I gotten myself into? Whatever it was it was going to be one heck of an experience. Keeping that in mind, I signed up for extra shifts!

Coming Soon The All-Star Game Part 2: Lets Get It On