Community invited to Christmas dinner

It almost looked as though a new Boulder City Christmas tradition may not happen this year. But a local group stepped in at the last minute to save the day.

The annual community Christmas dinner, which had been hosted the past two years by the United Methodist Church, will now be under the watchful eye of the Boulder City History and Arts Foundation. According to the event’s coordinator and club president, Ray Turner, their group had volunteered the last two years at the dinner but it was just last month they were told the dinner would not be taking place. That’s when BCHAF stepped in.

“I think something like this is important,” he said. “The Elks Lodge does a wonderful job at Thanksgiving with its dinner, and it’s something I have always appreciated. When I heard a few years ago that there was something like that at Christmas, I got involved as did our volunteers.”

The dinner will be held on Christmas from noon to 2:30 p.m. at 1204 Sixth St. in the multi-purpose building, which sits between the pool and the football field. The dinner is free but donations are gladly accepted.

“While we hope to get donations, we don’t want anyone to feel pressured to do so,” Turner said, noting that some leftover funds from this year’s Boulder City’s Got Talent event will go toward the dinner. This will help cover the cost of the turkeys and hams as well as event insurance. Many others will be bringing side dishes to share in addition to food from Southwest Diner and Chilly Jilly’z. Entertainer Patrick Mahoney will be on hand to play music.

Last year drew about 100 people from the community and Turner said he hopes to have a similar or bigger turnout next week. He wished to thank those who have also donated and will be volunteering their time and gave a special thanks to Deb Finnegan and Rose Ann Rabiola Miele for the time they have put in to make this year’s event a reality.

In terms of giving something back to the community, such as this dinner, Turner said it brings a lot of pride to himself and the others.

“That’s the spirit of the town,” he said. “We hear about these clubs back in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s that put on shows and events with plenty of community pride. I feel like it’s important to keep that community spirit going. We’ve been talking about hosting some kind of community potluck event for years, so this is a great opportunity to do so.”