[Sca-cooks] Looking for advice about running dayboard fundraiser --looooong

[Morses3 at aol.com]

It's time for me to come out of serious delurk mode.....
I'm going to be in charge of running the dayboard/luncheon at an event in our Barony in May as a fundraiser.
I've read almost everything in the archives related to this but would like suggestions about what has worked for others in the past successfully, and just as importantly, what has NOT worked that you wouldn't repeat.
We have the option of having this in an indoor hall where we could use the plugs for crock pots, etc. (the kitchen will be occupied by the staff doing the feast for that evening). The other choice, and the one I'm inclined to lean towards, is setting up a pavilion where we could use camp stoves and/or a grill. Especially as a fundraiser, it seems beneficial to be where the crowd is likely to be and where the fighters might be able to grab something to eat but wouldn't go inside to do it because they might miss something. It's also mid May, one of the prettiest times of the year in VA and I'd rather be outside :-)
We expect to have between 80-120 people and I've been instructed to plan to feed 80.
What kind of budget per person do most people use to plan with for an event like this?  My thoughts are to serve a vegetarian soup so there's something hot that can be simmering on a burner, sausages and maybe chicken cooking on a grill to be served with sauces and maybe fried onions (Cynara, you've turned me into the onion guy!), fruit, bread, cheese, pickles, hard boiled or stuffed eggs, and maybe miniature spinach or cheese tarts . It's likely that other Barony members will want to donate something, I think it may be a good idea to let them bring sweets to round out the selection since we seem to have a lot of people who like baking (and are good at it). Finally, we'll also have bottled water and a lemonade type of drink. I realize this is a lot of food but I'm thinking it's better to make a large variety of things to serve 50 and let people choose, most are easy to make in advance anyway.
My plan is to have everything individually priced and let people choose what they'd like, if we run out of something we can cross it off our board, if something gets donated that we didn't count on, we can add it. With a dedicated cashier taking money, there won't be the mingling of money hands and food hands that I want to avoid and keep someone focused on that aspect (it also gives someone who doesn't cook but wants to help a chance to do that). I'm planning to serve 11:00-2:30, a Barony member suggested we might serve earlier to catch everyone getting authorized, in that case, I think we might want to add coffee to the list.
Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome!

Geoffrey