Meadowbrook

Here is a link to a aerial view of Meadowbrook. Those who worked here will recognize the landmarks I talk about in this post
http://wikimapia.org/1198058/Meadowbrook-Music-Festival-oakland-University-campus



Meadowbrook holds a very special place in my heart. It was an outdoor theater that Bowman's Catering had a summer contract with, for at least 8 years that I am aware of, to take care of all of the food for the shows and concerts.



I recall being able to start working there when I was around 8 years old starting to learn how to scoop ice cream in the ice cream parlor. My Dad then taught us how to take a customers order and give correct change and the most important rule, that the customer is ALWAYS right. This may have scarred me because to this day I have a hard time going out and ever being impressed with the customer service I ever recieve. It seems it may be a lost art. I digress.



All summer long we would spend at Meadowbrook. Wheather it was running around or listenting to the concerts, I was always sad when summer drew to a close and knew that school was going to entail having to be stuck inside most of the time made me want to soak up all that I could.



I was exposed to all varieties of music from Bob Dylan to Rafi. I loved 4th of July time because we would sit on top of the hill and there would be this marvelous display of fireworks going as the music pavilion would blast the pre-recorded music that had the likes of Neil Diamonds "We're Coming To America!" and all sorts of patriotic music to stir the soul. Sundays we called "D.S.Slow" Instead of "The D.S.O" Which stood for The Detroit Symphony Orchestra. We called it this because not many people came to watch them and so the business was always slow.



I had a promising romance between my 4th and 5th grade summer. It lasted a week with a boy "Drew" He was in town for a family reunion with one of the part owners side of the family. He was cute and we talked for hours and walked all over Meadowbrook. I don't ever remember kissing, but we did talk about getting married. After he left I was heart broken. We wrote back and forth for a few months. I still have those letters.




Something that was always fun to do was taking the empty cardboard boxes and sliding down the very steep back side of the hill. I can still remember the smell of fresh cut grass. Another pass time was that we walked around collecting cans from the trash or ground and then cashing in on the Deposit (in Michigan you get 10cents per can). Lots of drunk people would leave their empty beer cans around. I didn't need a talk from my parents of how to say no to drinking. I was convinced enough from how I saw people act, those many summers, that I never wanted to try alcoholic beverages.




There was a huge cement stair way that ran up the middle on the hill where the food court was and it went straight up the hill to the ticket booth area. We would do running races up and down those stairs. We occasionally explored the back wooded area. We would see some wacky things in those back woods. Let's just say drunk people were very entertaining for us.



Being friends with the nurse had its advantages. Her nurses station, which was attached to our facility, had a small bathroom in it. If we ever needed to go to the bathroom during intermission time she always let us use hers. This was heaven sent for a child like me with a seemingly small bladder.




The smell of popcorn popping continually for a good 1/2 hour before any intermission was the sole job of "The Colonel" Mike Cowper. This area was located just at the entrance of where the customers came and went to the hill pavilion theater area for the concerts. It was also located right next to the bathroom area. So between the wafts of fresh baking Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and popcorn, it easily drew in customers and effectively drew in many customers. Before the intermission rush you would also hear the roar of the pop machines making the pshing noises as the carbonation mixed with the syrup. I can still hear it in my mind. We would fill cups with the best selling flavors so we would be ready.




Then there was the Terrace Cafe for those who wanted to have a more formal dining experience. It was located on the back terrace of the building with ample amounts of shade from the large aged trees in the back wooded area. It had lots of those fancy French country style black iron tables with chairs to match. They used real plates, cups and silverware and covered the the tables with fresh white linens. People who wanted ambiance to be apart of their meal ate at the Terrace Cafe.




Then there were those people who loved food for the love of it. They would go through the food line inside the facility and get their food in take out style containers and eat out at the eating area on the other side of the building. The tables on this side had these large sun umbrellas on them that you could tilt to keep the sun from heating you to death. It seemed like us kids were frequently put in charge of winding them up at the beginning of the shifts and then getting to wind them down at the end of the day.




The food line always had the best fried chicken you could ever think of eating, the yummiest potato salad, fresh fruit salads, hamburgers, cheeseburgers and the best hot dogs ever. Better Made potato chips were a staple. Sandwiches in many varieties. My favorite was the roast beef on the onion roll. I would slather that baby with Hellmann's mayonnaise and make sure it had plenty of tomatoes and lettuce.




In the prep kitchen I loved to watch the action that went on here. I always remember Amy slicing the meats with the commercial grade deli slicer for the sandwiches and making the large batches of divine pasta or potato salads. Oh and lets not forget those fabulous chocolate chip cookies of Nola Smith. I think she made those in the early years before Bowman started getting the Otis Spunkmeyer cookie doughs.




Then there was the ice cream parlor. It was a nice long narrow working space that was filled with a long deep freezer that encased the many varieties of the large tubs of Strohs ice cream. My favorites were the Black cherry and the butter pecan flavors. Both boasted large chunks of either black cherry's or pecans. They also would occasionally get a raspberry cheesecake flavor, that had a hint of cheesecake with a raspberry swirl and then this yummy graham cracker crumb thing going on through out the ice cream. YUM!




I was taught that if you got something to eat you had to eat all of it. No waste! I learned how satisfying it was to work hard and then play after. I learned that if you scoop ice cream for several years you will have nice looking arms. I watched how employees worked out their differences. This ranged just as wide as the selection of music I was exposed to.




I learned that at the end of the day after all of the workers had left it was not the end of the day for the bosses. I suppose that's similar to a parents job.




I was fortunate to have spent almost all of my childhood summers at such a wonderful place. And for someone like me who tends to be a deep observer, it really helped shape my ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up and the kind of person I strove to be. This is very much an abbreviated version of my memories of Meadowbrook. I tried to capture the essence of my experiences. It was sad when a local business gurue guy came in and bought out everything and Bowman's was no longer contracted to do the food. It was a truly magical to have spent all those summers working and growing as a person. Such great memories for me!



The end!