"Fall Suppers"

End of August is when cabbage begins to become kraut in the basement of St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Dazey, North Dakota. That’s a reminder the fall supper season is near—the time when communities come together to cook, when expatriates journey home to partake, when turkeys and sausages and pies and stories are served to multitudes.

This being a political year, we can expect a little low-key campaigning to season the feasts.

The St. Mary’s fall supper, featuring turkey and kraut, is one I have enjoyed in the past and will again. The supper at Waldheim Lutheran, south of Kathryn—that’s another great one, especially impressive because it involves lefse-rolling for 600 diners. The turkey supper at Canaan Moravian Brethren, western Cass County, is a giant affair feeding 800 or more, including quite a few harvesters who get their meals carry-out. It also has the most hectic kitchen of any fall supper I’ve seen. And oh, I’m not forgetting the hot potato salad at Trinity Lutheran of Litchville’s German supper.

This year I’m determined to venture into church basements my shadow never has darkened before, in search of God only knows what delightful novelties or culinary commonplaces may be found. There’s a venerable fall supper at St. Mark’s Catholic of Conway I’d like to check out, especially because of those kolaches—I hope they make a few extra ones with poppy seed filling. I’d like to take in the supper at Sunne Lutheran of Wilton, too—where they wrap the event into a harvest festival and bring the combines and trucks to church. Heck, I might even make the drive over to Almont and eat lutfisk and lefse with the Almont Commercial Club, if Governor Link will come out and play his fiddle again.

The one I most want to get to is the November feed put on by the Richardton Knights of Columbus, where they deep-fry Schislik (lamb kabobs, that is) and Chubaracka (lamb Fleischkueckle) in kettles on the ground. The aroma must be powerful, and I mean that in a nice way.

Last year I set up a page on the World Wide Web to serve as a directory of fall suppers on the northern plains. Included are photographs from some of the suppers, and more important, scheduling and contact information for all of them. I’m planning to update this web directory for 2004 and also to expand it. If you’d like to promote the fall supper in your community, just let me know, in one of two ways.

You can write me a letter at 3803Willow Road, West Fargo, North Dakota, zip code 58078. When you write, be sure and tell me the name of your church or organization; the day, time, and location of your supper; the contact person, including telephone and e-mail, if you have it; the foods served; and any other notes of interest, perhaps historic, about your fall supper.

You can write me the same information in an e-mail addressed to isern@plainsfolk.com.

No salesman will call! I just think these fall suppers are something vital in the culture of our region, and we ought to appreciate and patronize them.

Finally, here’s the location of the fall supper page on the web: www.plainsfolk.com/suppers

See you soon, in some church basement, I hope.

 

This text and audio may not be copied without securing prior permission from Plains Folk.