An appetizing aroma was detected blocks away as cars lined the streets near Our Savior’s Lutheran Church on Wednesday, September 20th at the annual Harvest Dinner event.  There was hardly a seat to be found as community members waited in line for the aromatic meal that was served from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. The cafeteria style dinner consisted of homemade meatballs, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, coleslaw, pickles, a roll, and apple and pumpkin pies. New this year, LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy donated cheese curds which were also included.  A full meal for ages 4 years and up cost $13.00, a half meal cost $7.00, and dine in meals for 3yr and youngers were free. 341 people were served in total including 179 who dined in at the Church, 162 choosing carry out and 9 deliveries made to shut ins.

Barb Samuelson, member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran for 23 years, co-organized the event with Linda Mathison. “Everybody talks about it. They’ve talked about this dinner for a long time,” Samuelson remarked about the community’s anticipation of the meal. “It used to be served family style and it was all you can eat,” she said adding that it came to an end when Covid began. After the Harvest Dinner started back up again, it was decided to change it to cafeteria style and Samuelson admitted that they’re still “working out the kinks.” She stated, “We improved on things this year. We have better ideas for next year too.”

The Women of the ELCA of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church prepared for the home-made meal many weeks in advance, even meeting in August to shuck and freeze 34 dozen ear of local corn at the Church in preparation for the Harvest dinner. Dinner preparations for the week began as early as Sunday afternoon and continued through Wednesday with Church members chipping in to form 1800 meatballs and peel and mash numerous potatoes.

“There’s a lot of fellowship because there’s a lot of time spent making meatballs and there’s a lot of time spent peeling potatoes,” Samuelson commented on the time together.  Mathison said that there are many new members in the Church that she is still getting to know and adds that you get to really know someone by working alongside them.

 “That fellowship time is so important to all of us,” she said. “We’re trying to keep everybody involved. And it felt like there were so many of us involved the last few days. We appreciate all the help that we can to get there,” Mathison finished.

Twenty-four youth from the 6th, 7th and 8th grade Confirmation Class also helped at the Harvest Dinner as part of their service plan for the year.

“It’s certainly a joint effort. It takes a lot of people to make this happen and get done,” Samuelson said and mentioned that the men of the Church helped as well. Joyce Boie, at 91 years young, is one of the original organizers of the Harvest dinner. She was happy to be at the Harvest Dinner to help sell tickets for the meals because it made her feel like she is still doing meaningful work. Boie remarked, “I can’t stand on my legs, but I can sell tickets. It’s fun to be there because you get to see everybody that comes in and you get to see people you probably haven’t seen for a while, so it makes it kind of nice.”

Linda Mathison, whose husband, Earl, was born into the Church while she has been a member since 1975, said the focus of the women’s Church group has been to help raise money to accomplish various projects such as new flooring and window coverings, and it also provides for speakers and luncheons throughout the year. Proceeds from the Harvest Dinner go to several charities or for special projects at the Church.

“We try to spread it around,” Samuelson explained. She mentioned that from the dinner proceeds, $100 are donated for each 7th grade confirmation student to attend Luther Park Bible Camp in the summer which totals $900 this year. Founded in 1932, Luther Park Bible Camp is located in Chetek, Wisconsin and consists of ten acres next to Prairie Lake. It is also home to the Farm Center, a 74-acre historic farm across from the Lake side and to Luther Woods, 320 acres of “untouched paradise” north of Prairie Lake in Birchwood. Camp events are typically held in June, July and August. Mathison’s own three sons attended Luther Camp when they were young, and she also enjoyed attending the camp for a women’s retreat in the summer. “We try to help support them and keep them going. They seem to be doing well,” she said.

Samuelson remarked on the feedback they received from the community. “They just said everything was good, very good. I think this year was one of the better years. The meatballs turned out really good, the corn was good, I think it was just a really good year.” Stanley resident, Ken Johnson, who attends the Harvest Dinner every year, said the meal was delicious. Pastor Ken enjoyed the flavorful meal and commented that it’s good to see everyone in person especially since the covid years had halted it for a time. Mathison definitely feels that dinners like this are important to the community. “I believe for the community we provide a service, a meal that they can stop in and eat or pick up the meal to take home.” She says the families love the homemade aspect of the meal versus fast food. “It goes over very well.”