Let Me Entertain You!

by Sarah Karnatz, as  told to Bob Buddemeier

Sarah Karnatz has been feeding and entertaining Manor residents for over a decade – first as the person in charge of catering, and more recently as Director of Community Engagement.  She has put on thousands of events of all types and sizes, with a superb track record.  So superb, in fact, that we became curious and asked if there were any events that were what are politely termed “learning experiences.”  She graciously responded with the following accounts.

Semper Fidelis  In 2012, Sarah was responsible for organizing the Marine Corps birthday ball in the Plaza.  She recounted the preparations:  “I had worked on this event for months, dialing in the menu, table linens, centerpieces, and I had countless meetings with the Marines tasked with this ball. We had every part of the night dialed down to the minute, from the posting of the colors, the cutting of the cake with the sword, to the Silent auction winners’ announcements.”

Since the Corps was first founded November 10, 1775, its birthday occurs when it is cold outside, and the heat is on inside.  Therein lay the flaw – “The one thing I didn’t plan for was how hot the room would get with 120 well-dressed veterans and their elegant spouses! The room got so hot that people were shedding coats and sweating so much that everyone’s hair was matted to their head and make up was running off… it was SO HOT,” Sarah said.

What to do?  Turn down the heating?  The wall thermostat was in a locked plastic box, with no indication of where the key might be found.  Open the door to the walkway?  “When we opened the door, those that were close to the open door froze!”

Sarah said that after the event, she was granted a key to the thermostat box, and informed that there was an employee who could regulate room temperature – but needed a few days notice.  An item to add to the preparation checklist.

The Hazards of Inclusiveness  — over the years, Sarah has received many requests to have events in the Terrace circle so that the Licensed Facility residents could join in more easily. “Well, there is a reason I don’t host anything in that space,” she said. “During a large outdoor summer party we had a huge BBQ station set up on the Grill patio, a 5-piece band, a wine station, tons of chairs and popups all set up in the Terrace circle.”

Then the ambulance came…..  since they couldn’t get into the circle, they had to park on the main road, walk over, and thread the gurney through the festive party-goers.  Happily for all involved, there was no patient aboard when they came back out.

Needless to say, in retrospect that was considered a bad siting decision.  Another item for the checklist — no blocking of any entrances!

The Caribbean cookout was quite an adventure. While serving Caribbean cuisine on the go sounded like a good idea at the time, poor planning and execution on the part of the food truck crew left more than a few things to be desired, resulting in some less than satisfied residents.

According to Sarah, “The Caribbean food truck staff assured me that they could handle a large crowd. They had NO idea what they were getting themselves into! The crew manning the booth had left ten minutes prior to start time to grab a speaker for music, when they could have just requested one from one of our crew working the event. THEY LEFT! Once serving finally started, wait times for food were about 2 days and 5 hours, give or take, with the line extending from the pocket lot around the front of the main manor roundabout almost to the terrace building! It was awful!”

Sarah, diligent as she is, had to reform the way they were serving food to each resident. If they had kept operating the way they were trying to, she said, a small fraction of residents attending might have gotten food served to them by sundown. However, Ian pouring Mai Tais for everyone in line lifted spirits and helped reduce the frustration.

Additional checklist items: (1) No Caribbean food truck ever again; (2) Have Ian, w/Mai Tais, on standby.