Buffalo Night At Jenny Wiley State Park, January 25, 2025

Yesterday, January 25, 2025, my wife Candice and I went to Buffalo Night at Jenny Wiley State Park. Historically, these events have always been held in the lodge dining room. In fact, we had the Thanksgiving Dinner there this past November. When we arrived at the park, we found that the event was being held in the convention center near the now abandoned amphitheater. I had been in that facility once or twice before including once, not long before the long running Jenny Wiley Summer Music Theater had been abandoned along with the amphitheater. At that event, we had gone to see the Jimmy Dean written musical "Big River". It got rained out and instead of offering rain checks the theater gave the performance in the convention center which had been a total bust. There is actually a large commercial kitchen in the convention center. But the room where this Buffalo Night was held is simply a large, windowless convention room set up with tables, all of which are designed for eight people doing work sessions in which they must face each other. That was a bit of surprise to be seated at a table for eight when, at brief times, the dining room door was left open and others, waiting to be seated for as much as half an hour, were able to look through the door and see two people seated at a table for eight. A windowless room is never a good site for anything other than a jail. Despite some bad weather in the last three weeks, the turnout was predictably large and the place was reasonably well staffed. But for these events, all of the state parks seem to schedule employees in the park system who have nothing to do with food service to work on event night and many of them have no experience in the areas in which they are working. We spoke to one woman who said she was working as a housekeeper in the lodge. We were seated at that large table conveniently in the front row near the buffet line which makes it a lot easier on Candice if she serves herself, or if I serve her and make two trips to the buffet for each of us to get a plate. The room was probably 40 feet wide and buffet was set up with the salad bar against one wall, the dessert table across the opposite wall forty feet away, and the main buffet line across the end wall at least fifteen or twenty feet away from the other two sections of the buffet. Thankfully, we had a young male waiter serving our drinks, napkins, etc. who was excellent, highly attentive, and robustly working the room all the time we were there. Ethan was a blessing in the middle of much that wasn't in other areas. In general, all of the staff, despite their sometimes being forced to work well outside their expertixe, are friendly, congenial, and nice. But it would be far better if other food service staff could be shifted from within the state park system for these high volume special events. The buffalo was served three ways, roasted and sliced on the line, presliced and cooked in deep hotel pans in boiling water, and as meat loaf. The roast was excellent and the female employee who served it was gracious, friendly, attentive, and experienced. The meat loaf was excellent, self service on the line, and made in the Eastern Kentucky style with catsup on top. The presliced and boiled was unappetizing looking and I niether of us even tried it. The vegetables were short sections of corn on the cob (over cooked but tasty); good, well made scalloped potatoes; green beans;greens with ham hocks sliced in them; and, there was also buffalo chili and fried catfish which Jenny Wiley usally serves as an alternative to the main meats at any special dinner. There were only two deserts, banana pudding in which I never saw a banana, and a berry cobbler. I happened to reach the dessert table after a cobbler had been demolished and left with only a thin skim of berries in the hotel pan. But I had manfully picked up one of their overly small, plastic (I assume disposable but maybe not) dessert dishes and was ready to settle for berries only (they appeared to have been mixed berries.) when a servers stepped up beside me and said, "I'm getting ready to set another cobbler down, would you like to wait." I had the pleasure of taking the first piece of that cobbler out of the pan to my table. I enjoyed some parts of the meal and the trip, was very appreciative of the waiter Ethan, and won't totally slam the event. But it did have some things lacking and could definitely be improved on before the next event. It is usually done far better at Natural Bridge State Park in Slade, Kentucky, where we also go regularly. Yes, I will probably be at the next special event dinner at Jenny Wiley, but I must insist that it be held in the lodge dining room.