Fabulous food, great music, and super raffle items, including one mystery prize

If you missed FOVEC's annual BBQ fundraiser this year, you'll want to watch this space for the 2022 BBQ date. Our first post-Covid community activity was a big hit. Over 100 people turned out to make new friends, hang out with family and friends, listen to great music, and reconnect with people they missed seeing this past year. It was delightful to see people gather in Fair Oaks Park and Recreation Director Michael Aho's back yard; a venue that lent itself very well to feeding and entertaining us. Parking was plentiful, too; a sign of things to come in Fair Oaks Village as we work to find innovative ways to provide more parking spaces.

Our newest board member, Dominick Adorno, put his lifelong experience with food and events to good use and planned a mouth-watering meal with fabulous appetizers, pulled pork sliders, barbecued chicken, barbequed beef brisket, coleslaw, beans, and cheesy potatoes - a splendid BBQ repast. We appreciate all the volunteers who stepped up to make our event run smoothly. Volunteers prepared most of the dishes we served, and they set up and decorated tables for diners and the buffet and bar, displayed raffle prizes, and provided a shady and welcoming greeting area. They also cleaned up after the BBQ and made sure we left Mike Aho’s place in good shape. Volunteering is a great way to make new friends, and as they say, “Many hands make light work.”

We had a great group of young people help out by serving appetizers and buffet dishes. Rotarians Alice and Fred Rowe and Denise Azimi facilitated the Rotary-affiliated Interact Club at Bella Vista High School. Noah Wright, Andrea Choi, Ayla Hardenburg, and Jayha Buhs-Jackson represented the Bella Vista Club and were joined by August Brown from the Waldorf School, and Ben Rudd, a Boy Scout and Bella Vista student. With their help, the BBQ line moved quickly, with plenty of food for everyone. There were dishes of ice cream with chocolate sauce to follow. Terri Adorno hosted the bar with Charles Miller, Dennis Firenze, Cynthia Mason, and Keith Walter, whose hospitality made us all feel welcome. The bar offered choices of good beers and wines, along with sodas and chilled water, especially helpful on a warm summer evening.

Music provided by Matt Rainey and the Dippin' Sauce touched on a lot of Grateful Dead favorites and did them justice. It was heartwarming to see everyone enjoying visiting, dancing, making new friends, and appreciating the ambiance.

The meal was followed by a drawing for the door prize, a mysterious one-of-a-kind object, and thoughtful and great raffle items. Special thanks to Brahma, Wild Runner, and The Wild Rooster Rooster Bistro for their gift certificates and the lovely art from Feathered Nest. We should make mystery door prizes a recurring raffle item each year. The raffle prizes delighted those of us who stayed for the drawing and hoped the odds were with us.

The BBQ was a true Fair Oaks event where old-timers and old friends mixed with newcomers attracted to the Fair Oaks community's charm and wild beauty. As the sun began to set and the evening breeze kicked in, we were all grateful to spend this time together, the first of many opportunities this year to connect and celebrate our community. We were happy to see old friends reconnect, and we welcome our new residents. Please consider joining FOVEC and get to know us all better. We also invite you to start thinking about donations of raffle items for next year. It's a great chance to highlight your business while having a good time in The Village.