All I'm sayin' is I liked the idea of getting your dessert first at the Hegre Lutheran Church Meatball Supper.
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| Lyla Patterson has her great granddaughters Isabelle and Julia helping her out. |
A beautiful countryside drive from anywhere to this quiet respite was just part of the experience. Not only did I meet long-lost friends, but got to revisit a place that really got me started in writing about church cuisine. The church is located just off Hwy. 56 six miles south of Kenyon or halfway between there and West Concord. Until this spring, they have had several years of not only meatball dinners, but a scrumptious salad luncheon in April.
Because of hectic schedules and the possibility the church may combine with a West Concord church, the salad luncheon fell by the wayside. But this meatball dinner brings in over 300 people, tasting the incredible food, and experiencing fall decorated tables. Mother Nature helped out as well, with perfect temperatures in the 70s and a touch of color showing in the trees.
Lyla Patterson, in all her 86 years, still enjoys scooping out whip cream onto whatever of the pies you choose when you jump to the front of the line: pumpkin, cherry, blueberry, peach, low sugar apple and regular apple, all homemade and looking and tasting like they were straight from the oven. "I've been going to this church all my life and remember helping out at church dinners since I was seven," she said, with a hearty smile. It's that infectious smile and knowledge of many of the visitors that makes such a homey atmosphere. Her two great-granddaughters, Isabelle and Julia are just part of the five generations of her family still helping out at the church, making it indeed a family affair.
The meatballs were joined on my plate by mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberries, coleslaw, buttered buns and coffee, milk or ice water. It was all you can eat, but one plateful was enough for most people!
Prior to entering the church, I came across Pastor Richard Hegal and his wife, Norma. That was a delightful start to the occasion. Although officially retired, Pastor Hegal has been helping out the Lutheran diocese for the past four years. He hails from Blooming Prairie, where he was minister for over 20 years. His wife, Norma, was my office manager at the Blooming Prairie Times in the mid 1990s, so it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with them.
Right after he ate, Pastor Hegal took for the kitchen, where he eagerly dug in to helping serve, wash dishes - whatever it took. It was obvious the volunteers enjoyed his leadership and great demeanor.
Hungry visitors trickled in for the first half hour, but as the night went on the line got longer. The concern was the early harvest might hurt numbers, but that didn't hamper the gracious workers. They gladly filled 50 takeout orders for those who chose to take the meal home.
"It's been hard for some of these churches to keep their dinners going because of state restrictions," said Norma, who is no stranger to such goings-on. Blooming Prairie has one of the biggest lutefisk dinners in the area, coming up in a week. "They all do such good jobs and enjoy doing it, it's too bad the state had to stick their nose in it."
For those of you not aware, it was right here in Goodhue County that two Wanamingo ladies took the 'hotdish' rule to task. This is from the Zumbrota News-Record newspaper:
"Kathy Theel and Pat Irrthum decided that enough is enough when they saw traditional church dinners in Goodhue County under attack. These dinner ware a big revenue source and are very popular with local people. In some instances, churches like Vang Lutheran have busloads of people from the Twin Cities attending their annual lutefisk supper, and this brings in much needed revenue.
Theel said, “The tradition of church dinners in rural areas is as important as Ufda,Ole and Sven, and everything else associated with Minnesota. It is important that we keep that tradition. Economically churches need that revenue.”
The problem began when Goodhue County decided to discontinue its food inspection program for financial reasons and the State of Minnesota took over.
Theel said, “The first indication of a problem occurred at St. Paul’s Catholic Church dinner on March 16, 2010.
At that time, the state inspector proclaimed that the dinner had to be shut down. Upon hearing much objection, she agreed to allow the dinner to be held, but said there could be no more. And if there was, there could be up to a $10,000 fine per each event violation.
Theel and Irrthum said her proclamation put the “fear of God” into the church’s pastor, and many of the church council members who met and declared there would definitely not be any more church dinners.
Soon after, other area church members got scared and refused to advertise their church dinners for fear they too would be shut down if the inspector learned about their event.
Theel and Irrthum decided that Goodhue County’s tradition of holding church dinners wasn’t going to fall to the wayside without a fight. They wanted clarification of what the law said, as there were many rumors concerning the issue, and no one knew exactly what was being prohibited and why. One rumor was that churches needed to buy a $90 permit, which allowed them to hold three functions each year. (They later found out this wasn’t true). So they called a meeting with Wanamingo’s city administrator and the health department.
Three health officials arrived and were shocked when they saw more than 100 people in attendance at the meeting.
Theel and Pat Irrthum learned there that church dinners fall under the food stand law, and the problem comes when churches serve food that is cooked or baked in non-compliant church kitchens or off-site in homes and then invite the public to attend.
In November 2010 they got the signatures of over 400 people asking that the state legislature exempt Goodhue County churches (on owned or leased property) from the food stand law. State Representative Steve Drazkowski agreed to sponsor the bill and Senator John Howe agreed to “run with it on the senate side.”
On Tuesday, April 26, Theel and Irrthum went to a meeting at the Minnesota House of Representatives along with Wanamingo Mayor Ron Berg and City Administrator Mike Boulton. At that time, the plan was to also get the boy scouts and girl scouts exempted from the bill. Later, because of complications, they gave up on pursuing that goal.
At the meeting, Representative Patty Fritz of Faribault told the Minnesota Health Department representatives to apologize to the women, or she would hold up the proceedings until they did so. Colleen Paulus, the head of the State Department of Health, did apologize, but both Theel and Irrthum said it did not appear to be sincere.
On Thursday, April 28, the women testified with Senator Howe in front of the Minnesota Senate. They learned from the senators that the intent had not been for church dinners to be part of the “hotdish rule.” The senators said they were aware the wording had initially been a problem, but believed it had been taken care of.
Senator Dave Senjem said, “We should secede from the United States if we have to eliminate church dinners. I can’t live without them and it shows (weight-wise)!” Another senator said he didn’t want all the little old ladies from Goodhue County calling and bothering them.
Irrthum reminded him that those little old ladies make up a good part of his constituency, and if the senators wanted the women’s votes, they had better resolve the issue.
The new bill was unofficially dubbed the “Church Basement Ladies Bill.” In the senate it is Bill 477 and in the House, Bill 637.
Theel said, “Pat and I, Senator Howe, and the Health Department people ironed out a lot of the language and everyone felt fairly comfortable that it will past the Senate.”
However, she noted that at 12:30 p.m. the day before, they had both received phone calls from Paulus stating that there was going to be another meeting about the issue in a half-hour. Paulus said they were aware the women wouldn’t be able to make it to the Capitol in time, but they shouldn’t worry because they knew the intentions of the Health Department were good and nothing big would be changed.
Theel said, “We don’t know what they changed in the wording of the bill.” Irrthum added, “If they changed too much, we’ll be back.”
Theel explained, “It (the bill) will be thrown in with the omnibus bill. We won’t know if it passes until the legislature adjourns.”
The women said jokingly, “If it passes, we will celebrate. We’ll call all the area churches and they can feed us!”
That in a nutshell, helped all state church dinners stay open - that and having someone educated on the church staff at sanitation practices required by the state.
Long live the meatballs in Hegre - and all such Minnesota dinners!
UPCOMING DINNERS:
OCTOBER 6 -SOUP & PIE LUNCHEON, SANBORN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 10:30-1
OCTOBER 7 - FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF KARLSTAD FALL SUPPER, 4-7
OCTOBER 14 - ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH OF CROWN TURKEY DINNER, ST. FRANCIS; 11:30-2
OCTOBER 17 - FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BAKED POTATO SUPPER, PIPESTONE, 5-7
OCTOBER 28 - FISHCAKE DINNER, KNIFE RIVER LUTHERAN CHURCH 4-7
THERE ARE SO MANY DINNERS THESE DAYS - THESE LISTINGS ARE JUST A FEW THAT CAUGHT MY EYE. IF YOU KNOW OF OTHERS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
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