Fling is BBQ-fest for alums

Not even a downpour could make Monroe stop barbequing. Rain or shine, Monroe's Barbeque has been a constant fixture at Spring Fling for the past 16 years. Serving up juicy BBQ chicken, steak and its speciality ribs, Monroe's is rarely without a long line of hungry students. But Spring Fling is the only time of year that Monroe's has a line of people waiting to eat -- because Monroe Watkins and company don't barbeque for a living. "We come back here every year because we all sort of grew up here together as students," said Brent Andrews, a 1976 College graduate. "This is our way of staying in touch with Penn, the Quad in particular, and with each other." Why only Spring Fling? Because almost all of Monroe's employees are University graduates -- and former residential advisors in the Quadrangle -- who miss the University and treat Spring Fling as a yearly reunion. And they don't even do it for the money. "When you graduate, and?you have to go out in the real world, you have no idea how valuable this is, to be able to still have [Spring Fling] and hold onto it," Andrews said. "We don't make a ton of money on this, in fact we'll probably end up paying a little bit to do it, but how can you beat this?" Watkins, who used to be an executive chef for the Sheraton Corporation, said Monroe's started out with two "regular little round grills" cooking about 25 pieces of chicken and five boxes of ribs. Now, Monroe's serves more than 3,000 pounds of ribs, "a couple of thousand" steaks and almost 500 pieces of chicken for each Fling. Watkins, always smiling, jolly and good-humored, earned a Ph.D in education from the University in 1981. He said he returns to Fling every year because he loves the University, he loves Spring Fling and most of all, he loves to barbeque. "There is a certain mystique about us?every one of these guys fly in at their own expense to have two days where we just cook ribs," he said. "Nobody's missed [in 16 years]." Over the years, the workers at Monroe's say the general atmosphere of Spring Fling has changed greatly. Andrews, who was a College freshman during the first Fling in 1972, said Fling keeps getting "bigger and more professionalized." "It was all in the Quad, [and] it had more of a family feel to it back then," he said. "It was more personal and everybody participated more." Andrews added that the annual crafts show displayed solely student artwork, and that many student bands played on a small stage, just for their friends, when he was a student. The group still enjoys itself every year, and a second generation has evolved as many of them now have kids who attend as well. And although barbeque is "probably a Southern tradition," Watkins said, he would put his crew and his ribs "up against anybody."