Steamboat Pilot & Today

It takes a lot of volunteers to prepare enough food to satisfy 400 Thanksgiving Day appetites.

Millie Beall, Routt County United Way's executive director, is hopeful those volunteers will continue to emerge during the next couple days as she prepares to host another annual community Thanksgiving Day dinner.

The free dinner, sponsored by United Way, Vectra Bank and the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. Food Services Department, is from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Steamboat Springs Community Center next to Bud Werner Memorial Library.

The event brings people of all ages and backgrounds together for a traditional Thanksgiving feast prepared by generous volunteers from throughout the area. But with just four days left until the holiday, Beall said many volunteers are needed to prepare a variety of home-cooked, ready-to-serve dishes, including turkeys.

"We need a little of everything," Beall said Sunday.

To feed the 400 people expected to come through the community center's doors Thursday, event organizers still need baked and stuffed turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casseroles, green salads, cranberries, Jell-O, dinner rolls, pies and other desserts. Butter and punch ingredients also are needed.

Anyone interested in providing a dish for the meal is asked to call Vectra Bank at 870-4210 to sign up and fill areas of need, Beall said.

All dishes should be fully cooked and brought to the community center between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday in disposable baking dishes or trays.

The community dinner is a fun event that gets to the heart of what Thanksgiving Day is all about, Beall said.

Possible only through the donations and work of community members, the event will feature decorated tables, live music and entertainment and the opportunity to meet new people, Beall said.

"That's the beauty of it," she said. "We seat eight (people) to a table, and people are sitting with folks they've never met before. It's just very fun."

The buffet-style dinner is especially popular with young Steamboat residents who don't have family in the area, Beall said. It also is well attended by local families, out-of-town visitors and others.

"There are longtime residents, people on vacation and people who don't have any family in town and just don't want to be by themselves," Beall said.