Magic Time
It’s hard to explain how an event somehow became so much more than the sum of its parts, transcending short-planning time, bad weather, and a weak economy to become an evening of pure old Austin magic, the kind we old-timers reminisce about and often bemoan the loss of. But that’s what happened last Sunday night at the Be a Friend to the Farmhouse Benefit for Boggy Creek Farm. Thanks to the incredibly hard (and fast) work of Wm. Emmett and Lisa Fox of Asti, Jean-Luc and Denise Salles, Barr Mansion owners Mark and Melanie McAfee, plus their friends, employees, and volunteers, the party was a rousing success. More than $15,000 was raised to help defray the restoration costs at Boggy Creek’s historic farmhouse, and it was made abundantly clear to farmers Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle just how much their 10-year investment in the old East Austin homestead means to the Austin food community. It was an evening none of us is ever likely to forget. The reflected glow of love and friendship enveloped the crowd. What an amazing start to the Christmas season!
Though it’s difficult to capture real magic in mere words, here are some thoughts about what made the evening so special: perhaps it was the Mundi Ensemble playing spirited Irish aires beneath the hand-thatched roof in the Barr Mansion barn or Kimmie Rhodes leading the crowd in a sing-along to George Harrison‘s “Here Comes the Sun” on a cold, dreary night; maybe it happened because people brought their new babies, friends, and grandmothers to the same party; it could have been because so many talented, creative people wanted their food, their wine, their books, paintings, photographs, jewelry, flowers, and gifts to be there, and everyone bought something lovely from someone else in support of the farm. Several people suggested that perhaps in the aftermath of September 11, people were hungry for a reason to come together as a community, and that could certainly be a contributing factor. Personally, I think there’s some element of sense memory in the ancient timbers and thatched roof of the Barr Mansion barn that recollects a simpler time when folks came together to give each other a hand, bringing food, making music, rebuilding houses. The old barn remembered, the loving friends of the farmhouse came out … and magic happened.
This article appears in December 7 • 2001.