The three young servers might have been nervous about their
first night working al fresco, but one couldn’t tell by looking at
Maribel and Cynthia Alcazar, and Sydney Felix.
Gilroy – The three young servers might have been nervous about their first night working al fresco, but one couldn’t tell by looking at Maribel and Cynthia Alcazar, and Sydney Felix.
The three sixth-grade flutists pent their Saturday evening serving dinner to guests of the Sixth Annual Pasta Extravaganza. And, as diners paid for their meal of salad, bread, pasta and dessert, the girls eagerly waited for guests to take a seat at their table.
Meanwhile, a tuba player for the Brownell band arrived early to help set up tables. Aaron Green spread out red-and-white checked tablecloths on the long-rectangular tables and placed grapevines and votive candles along the middle to serve as a centerpiece. While the girls seemed confident, he expressed some concerns about serving guests at his table as the dinner hour approached.
“I’m a little nervous about serving,” Green said. “I might drop something or spill it.”
Max Fishler, an eighth-grader at Brownell who plays the tenor saxophone, said Saturday was his third time serving at the Pasta Extravaganza and he always had fun.
“Last year, we had the band teachers going from table to table playing different instruments,” Fishler said. “You get to be with your friends and have a good time.”
While the boys prepared for guests, farther down Monterey Imelda Alcazar, mother to twins Maribel and Cynthia who attend Brownell Academy, took on the role as the parent supervisor. Imelda reminded them to offer guests drinks as well as ask which type of pasta they would like.
While diners struggled to keep their napkins and cups from blowing away in the evening’s chilly wind, the trio of sixth-grade girls took turns running to the temporary kitchen set up in the Fifth Street parking lot just east of Monterey.
Dave Peoples, owner of the Nimble Thimble and a member of the Gilroy Downtown Business Association, helped organize the event, the proceeds of which benefit the Middle School band programs at South Valley, Brownell and Solorsano. About 500 people attended this year’s event, compared to 850 last year. The cool evening may have contributed to the low numbers.
“When the sun went down it got pretty windy,” Peoples said. He was unable to immediately provide the amount of money raised, but last year, the event brought in $5,000 for the middle school bands, he said.
Near Fifth Street, where guests checked in at the maitre’d booth to be seated, several round tables seating eight people were decorated with everything from sand to a harvest basket to graham crackers. As part of the “Pasta Extravaganza Table Decorating Challenge,” groups paid the cost of dinner tickets and a $20 fee to participate in the contest.
A tropical theme adorned two tables. One came complete with crystal-clear plates embossed with seashells and a thin layer of sand underneath, decorated by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Corporation.
“The sand is really from the beach,” said Larry Cope, executive director of the EDC.
Operation Independence won a gift basket and the first prize for their table decorating skills. The group used plenty of red, white and blue around a center piece made of graham cracker boxes and other items they include in their care packages for military personnel stationed in Iraq.
“With the kids putting in the effort, it runs really well,” Johnson said. “People are happy to have the kids help them.”
