The BBQ

Legendary cartoonist Reg Manning featured the barbecue
front and center on his graphical promo for the event.

 Food service is a time-honored way to draw people together  and help them celebrate an occasion in fitting style.  From the very "git go" of planning the Midgley Bridge dedication, the organizers envisioned a Big BBQ would equate to a Big Draw.  Much time, effort and angst went into the food service aspect of the dedication.  Sam Quindt, "an oldtime Army man," agreed to handle the BBQ after he was given assurances that his expenses would be covered even in the event of bad weather.  Sam waas in charge of feeding the men of CCC Camp F-19 at the Prescott Fairgrounds.  Sam was known far and wide around Yavapai County as "THE" man to feed a large group of people "right & proper."  

Sam Quindt had many Friends involved in the bridge dedication planning.
There was never any  doubt that San was going to do the barbecue.

Bridge dedication organizers seriously thought at least 2,000 people were going to attend the event and they went so far as to tell Sam he might  be feeding as many  as 2,500!  Meanwhile organizers worked to secure the Hart Ranch fields as a place for BBQ attendees to gather while listen to the scores of entertainers.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and the BBQ turned out to be a Big Money Loser instead of the Big Draw everyone hoped.  Sam wound up "only" feeding 693 people.  The BBQ lost $250.17.  While that doesn't sound like much, consider that adjusted for inflation $250 in 1939 money would be $4,400 in today's 2018 dollars.

All of the pre-event promo prominently featured the barbecue.
The graphic above was part of a full page at in the Flagstaff newspaper.

A cold fall rain storm dampened event attendance.  Newspaper reports estimated the total attendance at 1,000, far short of the 2,000 to 2,500 organizers had hoped for. The ink on some of the registration sheets is stained from raindrops.  A few of the attendees took time to write the word "COLD" next to their name on the registration sheet.   Event organizers were undaunted by the weather and called the dedication a great success.  Sources for all materials in this post are located in the NAU Cline Library Special Collections, Call #: AHS.ND.854