Real People. Real Food. Real South.
By Lee Epting
There is a story to be told, or to be discovered, or even manifested. It’s worth looking for one or making one. We all pass on before we know it and the stories are the things that live on. In our business, we always have the opportunity to define the unique things that can bring the story to life. We have to dig, ask questions, and snoop around a bit. The story helps make the event memorable.
So, let’s take an example that happened a few months ago. I received a call from Ben McCracken up at Lake Rabun, saying that he wanted to have a little open house with folks from the lake area to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Hall’s Boat House. What an opportunity! They were just planning a brief drop by and he wanted light food with some beer and wine. I took a drive to meet with him, and we started reminiscing about the old days when I was a teenager going to Hall’s on Saturday nights to buck dance and listen to what we called mountain music. Ben showed me pictures on the walls of the store- an institution on its own- and there was a picture of the long-gone Calico Kitchen restaurant. Of course, there were pictures of the boathouses with vintage wood boats where tourists would pay one dollar to take a ride around the lake to see how “the other half lived.” Suddenly, we had created an event that would bring back memories and make a memory for all of Ben’s guests. It was now time to pull the ideas together and create a spectacular event!
Let’s see… We had The Store where kids came for ice cream, snacks, and candy which we could recreate and serve chips, dips, candy and other desserts. Then there was the aforementioned Calico Kitchen, a restaurant serving BBQ, (something Epting Events is known for). This would make for the main course and we found one of the old-timers that used to play music for the dances for the Boat House to cover the entertainment. Don’t forget the beverage! The way I remember it, the men would go out back and have a jug of moonshine, white lighting, mountain dew, corn whiskey, or whatever moniker it went by at the time. I could set up my old still upgrading the wine and beer and certainly make for more lively buck dancing as the evening wore on. Props and decor would be easy with the pictures Ben had in the store, the real brass props from old Chris crafts could be shined up for centerpieces on the tables, and with a few calls around to friends, we could gather up old water skis and other lake paraphernalia.
Just like that, we had our event lined up and ready to roll out!! You see folks, it only takes a little digging, talking, snooping around and observing to put an exciting and memorable event together.
It’s funny what comes full circle when you get to talking to people. I told my friend Stephen of my plans and he happened to mention it to a friend named Harriet. “What a coincidence!” she said. “My mother was a graduate of Tallulah Falls School back in the 30s when Mr. Witham purchased the old store next to Hall’s. He made it a gift shop of mountain crafts. She ran the shop for several years. I have mama’s scrapbook of those days and there are a lot of pictures right there at the shop and the hotel across the street and of course Hall’s. Do you think Lee would want to see it?”
What Harriet had produced just made the event into a true history lesson, filled with the memories that might never have been brought back to life. By the time Ben and I rummaged through his brother’s barn and found some old doors to make backdrops for the many pictures that we had enlarged, a truly historic event was in the making.
The point of this story is that you can take a simple event, look at what you have, and with a little creativity, you can produce a spectacular event. Tell the story and make a memory. It’s fun and that’s what life is all about!
See you next issue!
Lee
