At the city's Riverfront Park, the chefs used long-handled paddles to stir gallons of seasoned eggs in a massive steel pan over a wood fire.

It was just a happy coincidence that this hottest of outdoor culinary feats occurred on one of the hottest days of summer.

But members of the Fredericksburg Sister City Association and several dozen visitors from sister city Frejus, France, weren't about to wilt in the face of a challenge.

It was the second such omelet ever cooked in Fredericksburg; the first took shape during 20th-anniversary festivities in 2000.

Yesterday's chefs used the same 800-pound custom-crafted stainless-steel pan, brought out of storage and thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized.

Wegmans supplied the ingredients, including butter, oil, ham, onions, green peppers, salt, pepper, parsley and other seasonings.

And, of course, "cinq mille oeufs," said proud French chef Guy Sanguinet.

Five thousand eggs.

After all, if you want to make an omelet, you have to

Oh, wait.

The omelet-makers didn't have to crack any eggs. To meet health regulations, the chefs used liquid, pasteurized eggs, which they poured into the pan from 5-gallon buckets.

The pan on wheels, about the diameter of a standard hot tub, sat over a crackling fire and under a protective tent.

As the chefs stirred, the eggs set to a jellylike consistency. The tantalizing aroma of onions and peppers wafted through the crowd.

Suddenly, the French chefs decreed that the moment had come.

As helpers doused the flames, the chefs kept stirring, and the eggs at last reached just the right consistency to be served.

A health inspector checked the temperature of the finished product and gave the go-ahead. The serving crew spooned cooked eggs into foam bowls with slices of French bread in the bottom. And the crowd ate.

Despite the heat--truly, it was hotter than the hinges of hell--the making of the omelet was the glamorous part.

Because after everyone who wanted eggs had gotten some, and after spectators had scattered to enjoy the rest of the festival, what remained was one giant mess.

It was time to clean the pan.

The volunteer scullery crew included Earl Terpstra, Garrett Garner, Wilbur Brown, Michelle Crow-Dolby, Nick Belletti and Alicia Synan-Terpstra.

They began the job with long-handled paint scrapers that Terpstra unearthed from the van he uses in his contracting business. The scrapers took off the big pieces of gluey cooked-on egg.

Next the volunteers attacked with ordinary scrubber pads.

That worked OK, but more grit was needed. So someone shoveled a few handfuls of sand into the pan, and the group used long-handled brooms to scour the last bits off the bottom.

A thorough rinse from a garden hose, a modest drying effort with paper towels, and the job was done.

The pan will go back into storage, presumably for another 10 years, when omelet fever may once again grip the city.

But Garner, one of the volunteers, fleetingly entertained another idea.

"I think we should have a pancake festival now."

Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Email: lmoyer@freelancestar.com