Come, all ye hungry

WASILLA — If you’re looking for the fun place to be in Wasilla on Christmas Day, you might want to check out the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

Well into its second decade thoroughly decking the halls and providing a hot meal and all the camaraderie they can stand to folks young and old, the Wasilla Christmas Friendship Dinner will be taking over the soccer field yet again.

“It’s pretty exciting,” chief organizer Elsie O’Bryan said of the days leading up to the big event.

It’s a dinner, but it’s also a lot more. Folks who can’t make it to the dinner get home-delivered meals. That would be 236 folks who’ve already signed up. O’Bryan said they prefer folks sign up early. The deadline officially passed Dec. 19.

“Of course, that’s so we have time to map and get things organized, but if somebody comes in at the tail end we’ll still try our best to take care of them,” she said.

So what’s in store if you head over to the Menard?

There’ll be turkey, of course. And ham. O’Bryan said ovens run 24 hours a day for multiple days in preparation for the meal. There’s also, of course, potatoes. Potato peeling day was Monday.

There’s also rolls and cranberries and all kinds of other food on the menu as well, though often it’s not clear what all will be there until the last minute.

“The school district, when they’ve got milk and other perishables that aren’t going to make it through the two-week break, they go out and pick it all up and give it to us,” O’Bryan said. The district is always a wildcard; “one year they gave us a whole bunch of kiwi.”

There are also activities for the kids.

“We do have Santa and we do have an area that the kids can play, but we’re going to be pretty strict this year that the parents need to be aware of where their kids are because you can’t just assume that we’re going got be responsible for them,” O’Bryan said. “We had a situation last year where a little guy went over to the play area and then decided he was going to go on a walkabout.”

If the numbers hold from last year — and everyone assumes they won’t, they’ll only get bigger — there will also be at least 2,800 of your neighbors. Since these things always grow and the economy isn’t the best, the organizers are cooking for 3,500 to 4,000.

“They’d rather have too much than not enough,” O’Bryan said.

Last, but not least on the list of things you’ll find at the friendship dinner, is the entertainment. O’Bryan said there’s a bagpiper set to start the show. And at some point a group of tuba players, which has been a Christmas Dinner stalwart for at least three years, will take the stage.

“I never knew tubas could make such beautiful music that they do,” O’Bryan said.

In between? Well, anything goes.

“It’s mostly a jam session for somebody who wants to get up and sing or play the guitar or whatever,” O’Bryan said. “If someone wants to get up and sing Christmas carols they do.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

What: Christmas Friendship Dinner

Where: Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Wasilla

When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Christmas Day

Who: Open to all

Cost: Free