Great American BBQ

The Annual Great American Barbecue is held each year as a fundraiser for the Pleasant Plains, Prince's Bay, Richmond Valley Civic Association. I was invited to attend by Janine Materna a few months back and was happy to accept. I was curious to see the Seguine Mansion, where the event was to be held. I had never been there before but I knew that it is a notoriously famous Staten Island landmark.

The morning of the barbecue was gloomy and the skies threatened rain. My mom and I grabbed our umbrellas and headed out hoping for the weather to turn…fingers were crossed. As we walked up the street towards the mansion, we heard piercing, cat-like screams coming from the grounds. What in the world? We had no idea what it could be until we reached the gate and saw about a dozen peacocks walking across the lawn, the roof…just about EVERYWHERE! I have to say, I wasn't too thrilled about having to walk past them but they kept their distance and that was fine by me.

We were greeted by Janine and spent the afternoon mingling with members of the Staten Island community. We saw tons of familiar faces including Domenic Recchia, Bob Ferrone and Roberta Hayes. We also made quite a few new friends and set up meetings in the coming weeks to further support Staten Island. I was also honored to meet George Burke who currently resides in the mansion.

Everyone was decked out in festive red, white and blue, which added so much to the atmosphere of the event. Of course, there was tons of food and everyone knows how I feel about food! The weather cooperated for most of the afternoon until we were just about to leave. We ran for the car just as the thunder started. That was close!

Thank you Janine for inviting me to this super fun event. I'm thankful that we met way back in December and I look forward to working with you in the future.