By JIM ALBANESE © For The Salinas Californian - April 3, 2010

Unexpected company for dinner? No problem. Set an extra place at the table. Another cup of milk and a pinch of flour will stretch the gravy.

How many unexpected visitors did you say?

Seventeen hundred?

On one July morning in 1913, Bill Jeffery was jolted out of a sound sleep by the telephone. It was long distance. San Francisco calling.

"An excursion train loaded with 1,700 passengers just pulled out of here headed for Salinas and the rodeo," the tipster said. "They'll all be hungry."

Jeffery, the hotel man, was a director of the California Rodeo. He ascended to his lofty position in part because he was a man who knew how to get things done. Adept as he was, Jeffery's skills as an organizer would be put to the test this particular day.

The first thing Jeffery had to do was sort out the enormity of the task. Hmmm. How could a town with a population of about 3,700 feed 1,700 guests?

Jeffery needed a miracle.

He looked around for loaves and fishes and, finding none, called every hotel and restaurant in town. Most offered to help, but their combined resources fell far short of what was needed.

Then, in one of those moments of inspiration that changes history, Jeffery hit upon a solution that was so good, it endures today.

He decided to throw a barbecue for his guests.

There was a vacant lot adjacent to the old Central Hotel, not far from where the Fox Theater stands today. That's the place for the shindig, Jeffery decided.

Then Jeffery shifted into high gear and worked the phone with all the skill of a political ward heeler, calling in chits and favors from all over town. He got contractor John Bevins to build dozens of picnic tables. County employee Jack Rice got a crew to dig pits for the barbecue fires. Jim Hughes used his expertise to level and grade the site. Jeffery used the phone to contact dozens of labor camps, seeking donations of utensils and place settings.

Charles Melander, a leading grocer in town, was persuaded to set all of his store clerks to work gathering foodstuffs and condiments. Frank Griffin and two butchers cut meat like mad until barbecue time. Jeffery lobbied all of the lumberyards of Salinas for help, and they supplied tons of oak wood for the cooking fires.

Everything appeared to be in readiness. The fires were stoked and the first load of steaks was beginning to sizzle. Jeffery went over the checklist in his head: Tables? Check. Silverware? Check. Bread? Bread!

Jeffery blanched. Not enough bread. The bakeries of Salinas that day had long ago been tapped out. Jeffery thought a moment, then grabbed the phone for one more batch of calls. He telephoned every bakery in Watsonville and bought up all the fresh bread he could find. An express train was commissioned to haul the bread posthaste. It arrived well before the excursion train.

As it turned out, fewer than half of the 1,700 passengers - 650 to be exact - actually needed to be served. The others apparently satisfied themselves with train food or had packed their own picnic lunches. So there was plenty of barbecue to go around. Townsfolk helped consume the hastily acquired bounty.

Rodeo President John Hebbron pronounced the event a huge success.