Went along to the annual Madison Square BBQ block party last Saturday. Not that I was going to hoe into plates of BBQ ribs but as it’s kind of our local park and an annual event we wanted to at least have a look. Plus we’d seen in promotional material that 50,000 people attended and we wondered how they would fit into the park … and where would all the little dogs go?

There were some streets closed around the park and everywhere there were lines of people waiting to get ribs, pulled pork sandwiches (The Mister), brisket, and blueberry crisp (me) and people sitting or standing and eating everywhere!

But again as we’ve seen in this town, crowds don’t phase anyone:

• there were stacks of portaloos and hand-washing/sterilizing stations
• there were loads of bins and recycling stations and someone clearing them constantly
• each food or drinks tent just did ONE thing, cash only, clear signs up and people didn’t muck around – just ordered what they wanted, paid, and left. The Mister’s pulled pork sandwich line stretched almost a block then bent back a couple of times yet he only waited about 30 minutes

• even though the food was mass-produced it was good and homemade and fresh – giant trucks ferried food in and parked in the closed streets ready to bring more as needed. My blueberry crisp and ice-cream could’ve come straight out of a suburban kitchen

• all the food tents had packets of napkins, utensils and those foil pouches of wet soap/sterilizing cloths – what a great idea – just the thing for sticky BBQ food eaten with hands
• all the tents had a coloured flag flying off them and a corresponding flag of the same colour being held by a guy to mark the end of the line – with lines snaking for miles and criss-crossing over each other it was a really obvious way to know where to stand with out going to the tent and tracking back down the line.