After a one-year pause because of covid-19, St. Mark's Episcopal Church resumed its annual Shrimp Boil over the weekend in Little Rock, raising thousands of dollars for St. Francis House, one of the Arkansas Episcopal diocese's major charitable endeavors.
With the delta variant still spreading, organizers opted not to have a traditional sit-down dinner. The meals, instead, were takeout only.
Rather than preparing food for 1,000 people, as it usually does, the parish planned for 500.
Demand quickly exceeded supply; ticketless stragglers departed empty-handed.
"We opened at 4 o'clock and by 4:15, we put up a sold-out sign," Len Griffin, a deacon at St. Mark's and president of the St. Francis House board, said early Saturday evening.
Scores of people participated, cooking the shrimp in 30-gallon pots, boxing up the meals and distributing them in a make-shift drive-thru lane. Teenagers kept the traffic moving.
Steve Maxwell, clad in a crimson crustacean costume, served as a greeter, welcoming guests by name as they pulled up.
"I don't like you eating my cousins," he teased one ticket holder. She promised she wouldn't make a habit of it.
Maxwell said he dons the outfit every year because he's a member of the parish, he believes in the cause, and he's still able to squeeze into it.
"It's not for really, really big people, so you've got to find someone the right size to fit in it and someone stupid enough to wear it in the hot weather for a couple of hours," he said.
Diners welcomed the event's return.
"We look forward to it every year," said Tracy Jackson of Little Rock. "It's a fantastic fundraiser, but it's also just a fantastic treat for our family."
St. Francis House, founded in 1970, provides services for those in need, while also providing transitional housing for homeless veterans.
"Our mission statement says 'We serve the underserved,' so if you've exhausted all your possibilities, you've been to everywhere you can go, you come to St. Francis and we can help with clothes and food and, in some cases, rent," Griffin said.
The Shrimp Boil has raised more than $200,000 for St. Francis House since 2005.
Typically, it takes a half-ton of seafood to feed the hungry multitudes. This year, they opted to prepare 500 pounds.
"We might have been able to do 600 [pounds]. We were guessing," Griffin said.
"They're not cheap shrimp because they're so big," he said, noting that the per-pound price had climbed from $6.99 to $8.50.
The main course arrives in a chilled semi-truck and takes two days to thaw and prepare.
"We used to go down to Houma, all the way down to Louisiana, to pick up the shrimp. Now we contract for them in mid-July or early August and then we have them delivered up here," Griffin said.
On a typical year, roughly 200 volunteers participate.
"It's quite a production, but the congregation loves it," said Wren Williams, one of the event's co-chairs.
The menu, Griffin notes, is consistent.
"Normally, you get a pound of shrimp, new potatoes, corn on the cob, andouille sausage, a roll, butter, cocktail sauce -- all that kind of stuff -- and then a drink," he said.
The shrimp are cooked in water and orange juice, with onions, garlic and fresh lemons tossed in.
People pay $26 per plate to eat it. The reviews are glowing.
"How's the food? It's wonderful. You should have some," Carolynn Coleman of Little Rock said as she picked up servings for herself and a friend.
"It is highly seasoned, tasty wonderful shrimp," said Kathy Roberts of Little Rock.
"It's hard to beat that," her husband, Bobby Roberts, added.
In 2020, organizers opted to hold a virtual fundraiser, and it smashed the parish's previous fundraising records. With no food to buy and no meals to serve, expenses were low and net proceeds were high.
"This year, we wanted to bring back the shrimp boil but in a covid-safe way," Griffin said.
"Covid-safe" meant no indoor dining, packed parish hall, live band, beer sales or raffles.
A team of mostly-masked, socially distanced workers kept things running smoothly.
Many of them were familiar faces.
"Our regular church volunteers, the people who've done this year after year, that's the backbone," said volunteer coordinator Sandra Cone.
It'll take awhile to determine the final net proceeds, but the scaled-back dinner went "very, very well," Williams said.
"We're very pleased we sold out," she said. Next year, "We hope to be back to our full selves."
