Hundreds of local residents got an early Thanksgiving-style meal Thursday evening at Jackson Middle School, continuing a tradition that dates back several years.
Turkey, ham, green beans, rolls and macaroni and cheese were among the options, with students in Silver Bluff High School's culinary arts program helping handle the hospitality, and organizer Angie Ormand estimated the crowd at upward of 500.
Planning for the annual event starts in the summer and word spreads by mouth, flyers, church announcements and the town's website, Ormand added. "It's out there," she confirmed.
Todd Etheredge, the mayor, estimated that the event started eight or nine years ago.
Teacher Susan Keller, who runs the high school's culinary arts program, gave her students a thumbs-up assessment. "We were real pleased ... Nobody got hurt. Nobody got burned. Nobody got cut. That's a good day," she said.
She noted that Friday's discussion in one of her classes touched on students' desire to focus more on having the various food items more separated on plates. "They were telling me they wanted plating."
Referring to the students, she said, "It's always good for them to see the public. Every time you work with the public, 99 percent of what you see is people who are thankful and kind and generous and complimentary, and there are always a couple of people who are rude. You don't often see that, but some of them did see it a time or two."
Those situations, Keller said, provide a learning opportunity. "Those kinds of things are what I think are good for kids. You have to understand that there's all kinds of people and all kinds of situations."
Helping put this year's gathering together were a variety of organizations and dozens of individuals, with some of the foremost including Brian Goldschmidt, Nancy Goff, Bruce Goff, Ophelia Mixon, Steve Bates, Jeffrey Schadler, De'Angelo Bryant, Jim Broome, Louise Dent, Teresa Pearson, Susan Keller, Mary Grace Corbin, Perry Smith and Don Hendrix, as listed on a handout at the event.
Read the full Aiken Standard article HERE.