Food, glorious food
I don't know if any of you remembered to watch the Food Network Saturday night, but our good neighbors in Florence were featured in the Alton Brown series, "Feasting on Asphalt." Brown and a production crew were in Florence in April for the Spring Fling, which is a fund-raiser for the annual Labor Day Celebration.
The segment was tremendous publicity for the community. The slant was positive, the segment was as energetic as Brown himself, and Florence looked like everyone's hometown. Sometimes I think when the big boys visit us out here in the hinterlands they end up poking fun at some of the things we take seriously. But Florence got good coverage without a hint of "hokey."
Brown's next stop was a small town in Colorado where he held a lengthy interview with two long-time waitresses in a small diner. The interview made me uncomfortable, because I felt he was setting them up. He fed them questions they answered in earnest, but it seemed he was mocking them.
However, he treated Florence well. Brown was an enthusiastic narrator of Spring Fling and its many events. There were fine shots of food being prepared, served, and eaten. He was filmed sampling every kind of pie Chuckwagon proprietor Linda Britton served. There was footage of him helping Reilly Reid and Les Allison get the barbecue ready for the hundreds who crowded the school gym to eat.
His crew filmed the people, the entertainment, and the benefit auction. Brown said nice things about all of it.
I understand they spent a good deal of time at the Harvey House and were served a meal there by Florence Historical Society members. I am a little disappointed that segment was not included. The Florence connection to train travel and food is unique and it seems to me that it would have fit right in with his tale of finding food on the way to some other place. But perhaps Alton Brown has other plans for all the film that they took of the meal at the Harvey House. One can only hope.
In the meantime Florence got some valuable free coverage during Brown's visit in April and again this past week when the show aired on the Food Network. Congratulations to everyone involved. That kind of publicity is priceless and the rest of us envy you your good fortune. Way to go!
— SUSAN MARSHALL
