He and his crew of volunteers sliced and grilled 100 pounds of meat and passed it out, wrapped in flour tortillas, to a hungry crowd. I think there was a little pico de gallo left in the big enamel pot; the Old Fart’s Kitchen across the way will use it to spice up beans and maybe breakfast tomorrow. Two empty beer kegs are floating in bins of melted ice. Leftover soft drinks languish in the red tubs. Our water cooler is still out by the barbecue pit.
Some say men can’t keep track of anniversaries. Javier can. He’ll tell you, without hesitating, that today’s fajita party was the 31st annual. This tradition has been going on almost as long as I’ve been attending the festival.
From Hot Jams & Cold Showers, © 2000 Dyanne Fry Cortez
Donations are gratefully accepted, but not required, and he has no system for keeping track of who gave money and who didn’t. He hands out food to all comers as long as it lasts; anyone who doesn’t want to miss out better show up and get in line.Fajita Thursday in 2014 is still not a potluck, but the menu has evolved some since I wrote that. Camp Inertia still makes stuffed jalapenos, and the cooks aren’t all women. Last year, Javier talked the Pedernales Brewing Company in Fredericksburg into being a business sponsor and donating two kegs of their Lobo Negro beer. We had Lobo again today, though it wasn’t all donated. We also have dessert, provided by Justin’s Ice Cream on the River Walk in San Antonio.
Occasionally someone will offer to bring a side dish. Javier declines, politely but firmly. This isn’t a potluck, he explains. But he has made an exception in recent years for the women of Camp Inertia, who fry up batches of cheese-stuffed jalapenos and pass them out to people waiting in line at the barbecue pit.
This sprung from one of those magical Kerrville encounters: Justin Arecchi came to the festival one year and set up a tent in the Meadow. Fajita Thursday happened more or less at his front door. He was impressed with the extent of the production and the community spirit behind it, and offered to donate some ice cream the following year. His teenage daughter Giovanna dipped and served. She’s the youngest of Justin’s kids, and he told us she had never shown much interest in working at the store -- but she really took to handing out ice cream for free. And Justin did too, I guess, because he shows up with a different flavor every year. Today it was mango. He brought ten gallons. Giovanna, now 20, is still working the ice cream table. When the crowd gathered and the party got under way at 6 p.m., I noticed quite a few of the guests were having dessert first.
And it was all yummy! Thanks so much!
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