Welcome to Camp Panther!

Here are some pictures from my special event! The name of the menu was WELCOME TO CAMP PANTHER. While some NACUFS interns plan a special meal separate from regular dining, I planned a themed meal for the Piazza's regular customers. I had a guest count of 600 people mostly consisting of incoming students going through orientation (ages 18-20) but also including roughly 100 soccer camp girls and 50 academic camp kids (ages 8-15). This is important information because younger kids and adults are typically less open to unusual foods and more likely to eat certain types of foods like pizza and other foods they recognize. This was one of our bigger summer guest counts, so I was very determined to plan perfectly so there would not be a food shortage or, conversely, be lots of extra food.

Marc, my fellow Piazza employee, helping me set up the tent and Christmas tree.

Marc, looking suave and smelling pine fresh.

Guess how many marshmallows in the jar! The closest guess won a prize: a stuffed black bear displayed by the dessert station!

Mugs, the dessert station, served s'mores bars and cast iron peach cobbler along with some extra pastries from breakfast.

This is the bear we offered as a prize for the marshmallow in the jar game!

This is Bushels, the salad bar station. It is one of several that utilized these leaf bar runners. Marc also drew some lovely leaves on the sneeze guards with window paint! I debuted a cold broccoli bacon salad with cranberries and water chestnuts at this station. 

The beverage stations were covered in small, plastic bugs!

S'mores bars!

Cast iron peach cobbler! 

Sweet Talk/ Mugs, the dessert station.

I put a cute picnic table on the fruit table.

Nancy in her camping t-shirt!

"Bug juice"

No campfires by the ice cream station! We served two special ice cream flavors, Campfire Crunch and Bunny Tracks.

Cute little marshmallow decorations. Purple for our panthers!

Sizzles, the grill station, served fish-and-chips on a stick, a test item; brats with relish, onions, and other condiments; and campfire potatoes, sliced potatoes with onions and peppers. The tent and fishing sneeze guard art is courtesy of Marc, my artistic helper!

Purple bear paw prints!

A trail sign next to the fishing station. These are by Sizzles and Stackables, the sandwich station.

I wanted to include some fishing stuff in our camp event, too!

Pizzas roasting over open fires! The fires are made of tissue paper and real logs. I put a BBQ pork pizza here as well as a Mountain Man Breakfast pizza (scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese).

Panther Chili and cornbread decorated with a pine cone garland.

Savories, the wholesome meal station, served BBQ pork sandwiches, baked beans, and baked potatoes with cornbread and all the fixin's!

Dakota serving out some BBQ pork sandwiches and baked beans at Savories!

Teja, our best greeter, and my trail sign placed right at the entrance to the Piazza!

We had a clothes line right next to the tent and tree with Piazza employee shirts hanging from it.

Our little camp site! Some people climbed into the tent to take pictures- so cute! 

General Tso's chicken is one of their most popular entrees; we went through almost ten hotel pans of the stuff!

General Tso's Chicken and rice.

Another test recipe, black oak sausage casserole with broccoli. The sausage was cut a bit too big, but it was DELICIOUS!

Another close up of the food and sneeze guard art at Sizzles! Brats, fish-and-chips on a stick, and campfire potatoes (sliced potatoes, green peppers, and white and red onions sauteed on the griddle).

Even the dish return got a trail sign!

Some of our patrons. :)

Drinking bug juice!

I'm glad to say my event was a great success! Everyone loved the black oak sausage pasta, and the fish and chips on a stick were nearly gone by closing time. The campfire potatoes got good reviews as well, although I received a few suggestions to increase the amount of potatoes in the mix. The broccoli bacon salad went over as well as a cold broccoli salad might be expected to go over with a group of children, but the adults really liked it. I had to edit the recipe a bit to make it easier on the kitchen to prepare, but I hope they will serve it again. 

Nothing interesting at all happened during the meal, which meant that we were prepared for everything! All the staff had a good time looking at the decorations and the guests seemed entertained by the different themes at each station. Because of University rules regarding prize giveaways, I could only give the stuffed bear away to a current or incoming UNI student, which eliminated the children there from the camps but still left roughly 300 potential winners. Interestingly enough, one of my fellow Piazza employees made the closest guess (there were 1954 marshmallows in the jar), so she won the bear! Imagine counting out that many marshmallows; it took me an hour on Wednesday as I prepared for the event.