It Took a Village: Behind the Scenes at the Full Circle Meal

By the time guests arrived at the Full Circle Meal that Sunday in August, it was mid-afternoon, but the site had been buzzing since morning.

Eight eight-foot tables from Fox and Finch rentals, thanks to Abby Ogden, had arrived at 10 a.m. for unloading into Cherry Creek, where the meal was taking place. At the same time, an eight-person team was moving into the water more than 50 dozen flowers, more than 80 plants, and the framework that would suspend bouquets of blooms above the tables.

Another team of nine—volunteers from Colorado, Wisconsin, New York and Oklahoma, as well as Pennsylvania—were contributing muscle power to carry chairs into the water, set the communal table for 60 guests, and move tables into food preparation areas. By noon, chefs were setting up the creek fire kitchen and starting the food preparation.

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This beehive of activity was the culmination of even more activity that preceded it—a process that began when temperatures in eastern Pennsylvania were still below freezing.

Months in advance, the Bacon & Lox Society (BLS) in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains convenes the lead collaborators of the Full Circle Meal, an annual gathering of professionals in the events and arts arenas. Floral and visual designers, concept creators, caterers and builders, each at the top of their game, come together to imagine an out-of-the-box event and collaborate to make that dream real, stretching themselves creatively to their limits, and beyond.

The result is an event that celebrates their work—but, even more, an event that celebrates their community. With each participant giving generously of her or his talents and gifts, together they create not just an event, actually, but an experience of beauty that’s life-changing.

It’s the embodiment of the logo—an ampersand with wings—adapted for the event invitation and featured on the dinner plates. The ampersand, a reminder of openness to the abundance of “and,” lifts up the inclusivity of BLS’ value of creative collaboration. For this group, everyone who participates has something of value to contribute.

Life-Cycle Celebrant Alisa Tongg says, “When all of those ‘ands’ come together, it’s holy; it’s magic; it’s transformative. Creating an environment and a community where this can occur provides a teaching experience for all of us—it shows us a way of being and sharing that can create a very real dream life.”

At the beginning

The seed of the event starts with a brainstorming session when Tongg shares an idea and a central message for the summer gathering. This year’s meal was inspired by a winter trip to Mexico where she and BLS member Nicole Hutnyk visited Frida Kahlo’s home and studio. Kahlo’s final painting of juicy watermelons with its message “Viva la Vida” became a central image for the event—with “Long Live Life,” the translation of the painting’s message, becoming the theme.

Hutnyk, founder and brand director of Rabbit Rabbit Crew, an event planning and paper goods service, established the dinner’s visual direction. Inspired by the Kahlo painting and its bright colors, she considered how to interpret the theme throughout the event. The result was an “inspiration deck” with color and style guidelines to share with contributors so all elements of the experience would be cohesive.

More inspiration from Mexico—a visit to the Mercado de Sonora (Sonora Market)—influenced Hutnyk’s design of the event invitation. Incorporating the market’s visual impact and some of the items discovered there into her digital design, Hutnyk created an invitation reminiscent of a Victorian valentine, with lots of hearts and flowers, but in Mexican-infuenced style and colors. Following research into how messages have been received throughout history, she chose to hand-fold the 60 invitations like elaborate Victorian love letters. Envelopes were hand-lettered by calligrapher Jessie Fora.

For the meal’s floral ambiance, Sarah Petryk, Allium Floral Design, and Joseph Moussa, Mosaic & Co., took inspiration from Hutnyk’s deck as well as Mexico’s “trajineras” (tourist boats), with their brightly colored roofs, that navigate the canals of Xochimilco. How could Petryk and Moussa create an arch reminiscent of those boats to hold flowers above the tables?

Together they designed a structure with wood panels and a grid of vertical bars painted “Peaceful River” blue, built by Moussa’s team at Mosaic. Because Cherry Creek curved, the structure couldn’t be one long piece for the 64-foot table, so they created a framework in five pieces, adaptable to the creek’s curves. The structure supported 15 groupings of 45 blooms (675 flowers!)—zinnias, roses, lisianthus, snapdragons and more—as well as plants that helped to create a multi-textural feel.

Environmental concerns influenced the planning as well: flowers were sourced locally from Resilient Farm in Lower Saucon Township, Pa., and Flores Temporis in Quakertown, Pa. For the first time, Petryk used biodegradable oshun pouches to hold blooms, replacing floral foam made of microplastics that never decompose.

‘Papel picado’ brings Mexican folk art to the Pocono Mountains

Mexican folk-art installations at the event were created by artist Karina Puente. Three “papel picado” (perforated paper) banners (22- x 4½-feet) in sky blue, yellow and coral, created for the dinner, welcomed guests as they walked to the water. Two 5- x 5-foot flags at the creek originally were part of an all-white installation at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. Puente debuted the flags—given new life by hand-dying in lilac and coral—along the banks of Cherry Creek for gathering guests.

Hutnyk collaborated with a team of creative colleagues in Philadelphia—Jessie Fora, Mike Gary, Cindy Vega, Travis Ramey, Alessandra Carballo and Tracy Camacho—to create miniature shrines shared at the dinner as keepsake gifts. Gary, who does Japanese art direction, contributed the idea for including Shinto mirrors, which signify seeing your inner self in your reflection. Camacho provided “milagros” charms for good luck so each guest could personalize her or his shrine.

Cocktail hour drinks were created by Jay Nee, founder and consultant, Juniper and Grain. Again inspired by Mexico, the seasonal mocktail—pink grapefruit and lime juices, agave syrup and pink grapefruit seltzer—was easily morphed into a Paloma cocktail with a bit of Casa Noble Reposado tequila. The day’s cocktail featured watermelon mint gin punch: fresh Lancaster watermelon puree, lemon juice, simple syrup, mint and Greenhook Ginsmiths Gin.

Lace-edged dinner napkins featuring the hand-lettered menu—tucked under each plate at the dinner’s 64-foot communal table—were created by Kristy Rice of Momental Designs. At the event, Rice demonstrated live water color painting using water from the creek and gave each guest a tote bag with a brush and new paint palette she created.

Music filled the Full Circle Meal. The passionate solo, “Pure Imagination,” was performed by Lauren Jelencovich, featured vocalist on world tour with New Age musician Yanni since 2010. Chris Souza of Penn Strings, which provides live traditional stringed instrument music throughout the Pocono Mountains, accompanied the solo on the violin. From the creek’s banks, songwriter and composer Lou Rogai added music to cocktail time, playing guitar with his son, Julian, on the bass.

Custom builder Will Croasdale, owner of the property that hosted the dinner, generously shared his corner of Cherry Creek with guests. Croasdale also built the water hearths (see “It’s a big job: Cooking for 60 in a creek”) and worked with Puente installing the “papel picado” flags and banners.

Documenting the visually stunning creek dinner for sharing and remembering was a critical part of planning. Alison Conklin, event photographer, was joined by Justin Muir, who photographed the portraits of those who participated in water baptisms at the day’s close. Ryan Repash of Roslyn Films brought his drone and his video camera to record the Full Circle Meal in yet another medium.

It took a village

Close to two dozen designers, event and art professionals devoted significant time to planning and creating BLS’ Full Circle Meal.

Petryk estimates the time she invested—including concept, planning, sourcing flowers and installing the display—totaled 60 - 80 hours. Puente says it can take two weeks to two years to create her “papel picado” artwork. Creating the inspiration deck, the invitations and the shrines probably took a minimum of 500 hours over four months, says Hutnyk.

“It’s an opportunity that I don’t really think comes along often,” says Hutnyk. “When we work with clients, it’s never on our terms. But we do the creek dinner for us. We get to have fun and do things we don’t normally get to do.”

Petryk sees her work as a wedding vendor in the same way. She takes clients’ visions and enhances them, but doesn’t include opportunities to experience her work. When she designs installations for the Full Circle Meal, however, she interacts with them, sits with them, enjoys them. “We create art for others,” Petryk says, “so creating art for ourselves feels indulgent in the best way possible.”

The fullness of creative expression contributed by these professionals proves the power of community to create something bigger than themselves, something that keeps them coming back again and again. Early adopter, Fox and Finch has been contributing since the event’s inception six years ago. Both Petryk and Hutnyk, too, have been part of the event’s creative team since the beginning.

This was Chef André deWaal’s fourth year (see story “It’s a big job: Cooking for 60 in a creek”) planning and preparing the gathering’s food. Working with other creatives helps him stay out of a rut: “Seeing and hearing how [others] work and think is stimulating for me,” he says.

The BLS community encourages creative expression and exploration for Puente, and that encouragement supports her art. “I think of the Full Circle Meal as a dress rehearsal for creative freedom,” she says.

When it comes to opportunities for creative expression and exploration offered by the creek dinner, Petryk says designing for the event allows her to push herself. “It’s a chance for me to think outside the box,” she says. “I get to stretch into the far reaches of my mind to look at what is inspiring me right now. What would I like to do that feels impossible … can I figure out how to do it?”

Conklin, after packing up her cameras at day’s close, said of the gathering, “It fills you up. It’s an energizing vision … and it just fills you up.”

By Susan Gottshall

A freelance writer, Susan wrote a restaurant review column for The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., from 2001 - 2015. Her work has also been published in Ms. and Prevention magazines along with Lehigh Valley Magazine, where she was senior editor.