8 Seats to my Autumnal Equinox Supper; A Raffle.
An Old School Ticket Raffle
In the spirit of Sankofa, we are going back to get it. If you didn’t read my last piece, you should go back and get that too (before reading this one).
Back to some of the old school crowd and community fundraising we all participated in before digital platforms helped us get the word out. The eight dollar plate, ticket raffle, and bake sale. I remember helping Pop out with his men’s group M5 when they held plate sales on the Jones property not far from our homeplace. M5 stood for minority men making mighty moves, and my brother Antony started this ongoing joke we kept up until the day he retired. I would say, what does M5 stand for again? Antony would chime in and say; “I think it’s M5; stayin’ alive, in a beehive, on the black hand side”. We would deep belly laugh at pop’s side eye from across the room. It didn’t actually make sense but we loved it. Recalling this memory makes me smile.
Under a tarp style tent, framed in white PVC pipe, they set up tables and chairs for anyone who wanted to stay and eat. This tent sat back 5 or 6 yards from the road. Signs with huge text that could be seen from a half mile away, lured those driving by.
The sounds of gravel under tires alerted us like a brass desk bell being stroked by the index finger of an impatient customer. But this couldn’t be further from the energy of hungry diners, sprawling from their cars into the line.
All types of people poured into the lot, surrounded by trees. Two massive stainless steel deep fryers stood in the back left corner and a fan as big as me to the right, wafting the smell of golden brown flounder and trout down the road. A stack of white styrofoam trays was stacked, some already pre packaged with green beans and potato salad or slaw. The foil would separate the crispy hot fish from the sides and a piece of white bread or a roll would always accompany.
Don’t forget your pound cake or banana pudding. Fish being doused in Texas Pete or Crystal would then be closed up and whisked away as happy customers paid their cash and drove off. Elders from our community would pull up in their fly town cars and Cadillacs, receiving the royal treatment. I’d walk up to cars taking orders and returning to the fryers to outfit their plates.
Today you get to be the hungry, gracious diner, pulling up to support and get fed. I am offering up 8 seats at our “coveted” Autumnal Equinox Supper table. For every donation of 50 dollars, your name (or the name of your choice) is entered into our raffle to win 2 seats. There are 8 seats available, so if you want to make this a gift for someone you can enter as many times as you’d like, by donating an additional 50 dollars.
You will get an email once we close the raffle, with your ticket numbers and we will pull our 4 numbers right before the Christmas/ Kwanzaa holiday. You can donate to get your ticket(s) here.
I hope to see you at the table :).
