Detroit's Gilbert A. Cargill Chapter of the Black Pilots of America selected JP's Barbeque at Columbus' Bolton Field for an April 17 fly-out destination. Dana Rogers heard about the plans, and suggested that members of the Scioto Valley Chapter might like to help welcome the group to the Columbus area.
Well, would the Scioto Valley Chapter pass up a chance to eat barbequed ribs and chat with guest pilots? Silly question.
When we mentioned the plan to Carol Makar at JP's, she was delighted to hear about it. She had been planning to erect a temporary, tented pavilion in her lawn that very week, with the idea of accommodating parties too large for her little restaurant, but too small to justify booking her big party house. Carol said we'd be welcome to use the pavilion. (In fact, the party house wasn't even available if we'd wanted it, because it was already scheduled for a wedding at 4:00 PM that same Saturday afternoon.)
Then the weather turned cold, rainy, and windy for about another week, and Carol wasn't able to get the tent set up until the very evening before our event. But the nick-of-time improvement in the weather made everything possible after all, and it must have been equally welcome to the Detroit-based pilots. So, on a fine Spring Saturday morning, three planeloads of pilots and passengers fought brisk southwest headwinds, but showed up for a great rib feast at JP's, shortly after noon.
Their Cessna 172 was affected most by the headwinds, and was the
last to arrive, even though it was the first to depart Detroit. Later,
Dana Rogers said this:
"I have one regret...By the time the last plane arrived from Detroit,
stomachs were growling. I was too busy feeding my face -- didn't think about
organizing a group picture and most people had left by the time we finished our
meal. Here's a couple of pictures sent digitally from Detroit."
April 17, 2004
First to arrive was Juan Haygood and his passengers in his twin-engine Grumman Cougar. Even though he was the last airplane to leave Detroit, the Grumman's speed into the headwinds put him far out ahead of the others.
April 17, 2004
Here's a snapshot of some Scioto Valley 99s and families, with a few of the BPA delegation, waiting out in front of JP's Restaurant for the other planes to arrive from Detroit.
April 17, 2004
Paula Hook and Dana, temporarily stopped "feeding their faces" long enough for someone to snap this picture together with Steve ??, Juan Haygood, and some of the other Detroiters, on the walkway in front of JP's Restaurant.
April 17, 2004
San ?? from Detroit, with Dana, Marilynn Miller, and Janie McIntire, in front of Carol's temporary pavilion. You can tell from the grins that everyone was enjoying the outing.
April 17, 2004
Juan Haygood, Chief Pilot of the Gilbert A. Cargill chapter, inside JP's Restaurant, patiently waiting for his order of JP's famous barbequed ribs.
Happily, JP himself (Carol's father) dropped by to see how the temporary pavilion was working out, and a few of the guests took the opportunity to chat with him, and maybe even to swap some old barbeque stories with him, as well. JP always will talk "barbeque" with anyone who asks. He's won many awards locally, and has been judged winner of numerous rib-fests in the past.
Along with those photos which our visitors subsequently e-mailed
to us, came the assurance that:
"The Gilbert A. Cargill Chapter wanted everyone to know that our hospitality
was truly appreciated. They were pleased to see so many pilots and enjoyed JP's
BBQ. Detroit does not have many airports with a restaurant right on the field,
so they will be back!!"
We certainly believe that, because we saw some large packages of carry-out orders of ribs headed back toward the airplanes. Either our guests wanted to share JP's delicious ribs with friends back in Detroit, or else they expected a big hunger attack enroute!