Page 11 of The Great Maple Mistake

She taps her pen against her cheek as she scans her notes. “Max also asked if we’d be willing to mention that he’s selling the cook-off appliances at a discount once the competition is over, and for anyone to see him if they’re interested.”

“We can definitely do that.” I type that into my notes. “Fantastic job, Jo. Thank you.”

Her cheeks pink and she practically glows under the praise. “You’re welcome.”

“Brie, how about you? You had ingredients for the cook-off.”

She opens a manilla file folder and holds out a piece of printer paper. “That’s the final list of local farms and markets who are donating, as well as what they’ve agreed to give.”

I take the paper and scan it, surprised at the thoroughness of the list. She’s also collected donations from all over the area, not just Maplewood. “Thank you. This is amazing.”

“You’re welcome. Of course, my family will be donating the maple.” As if that was ever in doubt since her family owns and operates Moon Meadows Maple Farm, just outside of town.

“Of course. And we really appreciate it. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome again. We’re excited to help.”

I set the paper on the table and check my agenda. “Okay, Conall, you’re up next. You said you had good news?”

“The best news. I was going to ask Rory about donating the liquor for the cocktail portion of the contest. Like the appliances, The Striped Maple could get free advertising in exchange for the liquor. But as I was heading to Rory’s office to ask, our distributor showed up with a delivery, and I thought, why make Rory and the guys foot the bill when I could ask the distributor? So I did. And they said yes!”

I sit back in my chair, grinning at him. “Well done, you. I’m sure the guys appreciated that. Do you think we could get one of them to be a judge for the cocktail portion?”

He winks at me and leans in. “Already asked. I’ll let you know what they say once they check their calendars. Oh, we do have to announce that Mason Distributing donated the liquor. And put it in the program, of course.”

“Of course.” I type that into the notes. “Anything else?”

Conall shakes his head. “Nope. That’s it.”

“Bo, how are the permits coming?”

Bo opens his leather folio and gestures to several documents. “Permits are all in order and signed off on. I’ll file them with the city tomorrow. The festival is legally good to go. We talked about getting additional portable toilets to supplement the venue restrooms, so I’ve arranged for that and confirmed the contract is signed and we’re on the delivery schedule. The mobile dishwashing trailer will arrive Friday morning before the first event. After consulting with the rep, I skipped the pot washing trailer since he confirmed that we can run the few we’ll have through the regular dishwasher setup. I didn’t see the need for the extra expense. The trailer will stay on-site until Monday morning so we have time to clean up after the last event on Sunday.” He closes his folio and leans back in his seat. “That’s all I have.”

“Wow. Fantastic work! Thanks, Bo. Okay, Mickey. You’re up.”

Mickey pulls out his phone and scrolls to his notes. “I’ve contacted the linen and dinnerware rental companies. Costs for the dinnerware are going to depend on what types of dishes we need and how many. So once you have the judging panel nailed down and we find out what dishes our contestants are making, we can finalize our needs and get a quote. I have a ballpark figure based on the initial numbers we talked about in our last meeting, and even the high estimate is in our budget.” He scrolls a bit more. “I’ve reached out to get a few quotes on restaurant equipment rentals, and again, I have preliminary numbers, but the final costs are going to depend on what our contestants will need. But I have several companies bidding, so we should have at least one that’s in our budget.”

“Excellent! We’ll get you the final numbers at our next meeting. Jo, Conall, we’ll get delivery timelines for your vendors closer to the event. Please thank them and confirm their agreement to donate on this form.” I hand them each a generic vendor contract I found online. “Fill in the blanks appropriatelywith their name and our event, etcetera, give them a copy, and then get the signed form back to me.” I move to the next item on the list. “Finn, you were going to price out ribbons and trophies.”

Finn pulls out his phone and taps at the screen, then hands it to me. “That’s a sample of the kinds of ribbons we can get from a local print shop in Milton. And here”—he swipes the screen, and a picture of a small trophy appears—“are the trophies I found.”

I stare at the adorable wooden spoon trophy. It’s set into a sturdy base that has a space for an engravable plate with the winner’s name. The bowl of the spoon has a generic ‘Wooden Spoon 1st Place,’ with a note under the picture that indicates the wording can be altered to suit. “Finn, these are perfect!” I look at the price, and it’s definitely in our budget. “Yes. You’re in charge of ordering five sets. One per division. What do we think about ‘The first annual Great Maple Cook-off’ on the plate, with the winner’s name under it, and the division names on the bowls of the spoons?” Everyone agrees once I show them the pictures. “Finn, would you go ahead and find out about a down payment or whatever is required to get the awards and the custom engraving after the winners are chosen? Get me the estimate and I’ll get them the money. Also, order enough second and third place ribbons for each division.”

“Absolutely.” He takes back his phone, and I mark that assignment into my notes.

The only bullet point left is from me. “I’ve been working with the printer on the programs, and now that we have a few last-minute additions, I’ll send that over to them, and we’ll get those in the works.” I scan my notes. “So far, we have four people in the hors d’oeuvre division, three in beverages, five in breakfast, eight doing main course, and four doing dessert. Overall, I’m really excited by how many people wanted to participate. Not everyone is from Maplewood, but all entrants are local, which is nice.” I scan my list one more time and look up. “That’s it. That’sall I have. Does anyone have anything else they want to talk about?”

I get six noes. “Okay, we’ll get together one more time before the festival, just to touch base. If anyone has any issues that come up between now and then, message the group chat.” I close out of my note app as everyone else does the same. “If no one has anything else, meeting adjourned. But can I ask you to stay for a few more minutes?” That gets everyone’s full attention again. “On a totally different subject, I’m helping the firehouse with a new fundraiser. We’re going to do a firefighter calendar of at least twelve months. I’m donating my photography and design services, but we still have to pay for printing. Mickey, would Red’s be willing to sponsor an ad? And Jo, Conall, would you ask at work if they’d be willing to sponsor an ad?” I run through the sizes and tentative pricing for each spot. “Finn’s buying a large ad, and Brie’s already agreed to take an extra-large one, so I need to fill the other ten and a half spots.”

Conall chuckles. “As long as you’re willing to write that all down for me, I’m happy to cover it with the guys. But there’s no way I’m going to remember all those details.”

“How about I email them to both of you?”

He double taps the table. “Perfect. Thanks.”

“Mickey, what do you think?”

He nods before I’m done asking. “Absolutely, we’ll sponsor an ad. We’ll probably throw in a coupon as well. Maybe a free appetizer or dessert. Stop by tomorrow, and we’ll finalize everything.”

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