Sultan Harvest flourished in its new location this year, and indeed, no one at Sultan Harvest ate alone.
Sultan's 13th annual community Thanksgiving dinner was held on Thursday, Nov. 27, from 12 to 4 p.m. at Sultan High School in the commons area.
Organized by a team of volunteers working in partnership with the Volunteers of America, the community dinner featured turkey with all the trimmings including gravy, ham, potatoes, stuffing and much more.
Pumpkin pie made by Galaxy Chocolates owner Kathryne Paz completed the festive meal in the traditional fashion.
Santa Claus was in attendance, and was available to families for free photos.
The meal, which for several years had been held at the Volunteers of America facility on First Street, adapted to its new location seamlessly.
"We're proud of the event,GÇ¥ said long-time Sultan Harvest volunteer Kristina Blair. "It turned out great this year and the venue is fantastic. I hope they allow us to do it again.GÇ¥
When Sultan Harvest first began in 2001, it took place at Sultan City Hall. Sultan Grants and Economic Development Coordinator Donna Murphy helped organize the initial Sultan Harvest event, with local professional chef Gordon MacDonald and a few other core volunteers.
"We got this idea to have a free Thanksgiving dinner for anybody that wanted to come,GÇ¥ said Murphy. "We wanted to make sure that they came in and there was somebody there to talk to them; that they didn't eat alone.GÇ¥
Eventually, explained Murphy, "Sultan Harvest, where nobody eats aloneGÇ¥ became the event's official
slogan, a motto that was conceptualized by VOA Director Dave Woods.
"I don't like to cook, so I was always out front, saying, "Welcome to Sultan Harvest; come on in!'GÇ¥ said Murphy. "And we always had way more than enough so we got those to-go boxes and we'd say, "You can't leave without taking leftovers home,' because nobody goes home without leftovers on Thanksgiving.GÇ¥
In the beginning, Murphy recalled, the event wasn't even called Sultan Harvest. The name evolved rather unexpectedly one day after Murphy arrived at Sultan's Bank of America branch, intending to open a bank account to store some funds which had been donated to help support the event. When the bank informed her that she needed to have an official name in order to open a bank account, Murphy decided to get resourceful with an impromptu brainstorming session.
"I involved everybody in the bank,GÇ¥ continued Murphy. "I said "Okay, you guys we need a name! We need a name for our free Thanksgiving dinner!' And people started shouting names at me - customers, tellers, everybody shouting names, and one of the tellers said, "Sultan Harvest!' And I said "That's it!'GÇ¥
Truly a community effort, the name Sultan Harvest was fitting and appropriate. And it stuck.
Kristina Blair has been volunteering with Sultan Harvest since the event's second year. Both Murphy and Blair recalled that, in those days, the entire meal, which was served in council chambers, was cooked outside, behind city hall.
"Our entire kitchen was out back and that's where we cooked everything and that's where we cleaned everything,GÇ¥ said Blair. "So we had to heat up our own water to do our dishes. We actually got inspected by the health department one year.GÇ¥
Both Chef MacDonald and Blair recalled how impressed the Health District was at the time when they examined their operation. The even asked if they could use Sultan Harvest as an example to show others how to successfully accomplish such a task.
"They took pictures,GÇ¥ said Blair. "And then what they said was, "Can we use our pictures to show other people how it should be done? Because you guys' setup is perfect.GÇ¥
Blair eventually recruited her husband-to-be, Steve Slawson, who began volunteering for the event, as well, serving as the official Sultan Harvest dish washer. Slawson and Blair will be celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary in March of 2015.
The Sultan Harvest event has continued to evolve and shift over time. When the dinner outgrew city hall after about three years, it transitioned over to the VOA facility on First Street. Chef MacDonald retired in 2012, so both last year and this, the head chef has been Don Langhans, who works as an executive chef at the Inglewood Golf and Country Club.
This year the event was held at Sultan High School so as to accommodate even more people.
"There was a core group of about five or six of us this year that pulled off this whole event,GÇ¥ said Blair.
The organizational committee included VOA Director Calei Vaughn, community volunteer Ann Marie Bunch, Jennifer Reasoner, Nita Lea, Camille Senechal, Chef
Don Langhans, Blair and others.
Additionally, numerous members of the Sultan Community stepped forward to volunteer during the event including Sgt. First Class Dave Sivewright and his fianc+¬e, Christina Nelson; Dale and Gini Sorgen and their children Nicholas, Jack, Seth, Claire and Lydia; and many others.
Thad Gillespie made sure that all guests got some pie, and John Turk visited with guests and made sure that they were having a great time.
Harvey Tatel and his wife, Rosie, from Monroe, helped entertain the children. Rosie helped man the craft table while Harvey dazzled many young ones with his model train set from 1948. Other volunteers helped pass out blankets, coats, hats and scarves to families in need.
Next year, Blair hopes that they will be able to coordinate transportation for individuals who are unable to drive to Sultan so that they are better able to serve Sky Valley residents from Gold Bar and Index.
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