By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
Guess who’s coming to dinner? How about the Governor and more than a thousand other people? Wow, that is an impressive guest list. It is even more impressive when one learns that the entire menu is produced right here within the borders of a single county. More impressive than that is the fact that this annual dinner has been going on in rural Kansas for nearly 50 years. It’s today’s Kansas Profile.
Marieta Hauser is director of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism. She told us about the Grant County Home Products Dinner.
In 1941, a state representative named Will Christian represented Grant County in Topeka. He proudly told his fellow legislators that he and his family were self-reliant: Everything they needed to eat could be found on their farm in Grant County. Then, in order to prove his claim, he invited twelve legislators and the Lieutenant Governor to his home for a meal. Representative Christian’s wife Nora prepared the meal of homegrown products and served it in their rural ranch home.
It was a hit. In fact, it was so popular that the Christians did it again the next year and every year after that until he retired from the Legislature. It was served in a rural setting, in their home outside the town of Ulysses, population 5,857 people. Now, that’s rural.
In 1962, the Grant County Chamber revived the dinner, continuing the commitment to showcase locally-produced foods. It was named the Grant County Home Products Dinner.
Once again, it was a hit. It evolved into a dinner to which the public and elected officials are invited. Many years the Governor attends. The event is now held at the Civic Center in Ulysses.
The dinner attracts some 1,500 people each year. Wow. Marieta said, “We get people from all ages, from senior citizens down to young kids.”
The menu has remained essentially unchanged through the years. Barbeque beef is the main course, served with scalloped potatoes, baked pinto beans, candied sweet squash, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, whole wheat rolls, strawberry jam, watermelon, ice cream and milo doughnuts. Yes, I said milo doughnuts. Having harvested milo myself, and experienced a fair amount of milo dust, it is hard for me to imagine that milo could produce a tasty doughnut, but I’m told they are delicious.
Every year it takes approximately 800 pounds of beef to supply the main course, along with 4,000 cherry tomatoes, a pickup load or two of sweet corn, 2,000 milo doughnuts (you’ve got to be kidding), 100 pounds of pinto beans, 400 pounds of potatoes, 2,000 whole wheat rolls, 50 squash, 40 pounds of strawberries, and 50 watermelons.
An eight-person Home Products Dinner committee coordinates the event for the chamber. The event is a huge project. In getting everything done from picking and shucking sweet corn to setting up chairs and tables to decorating the Civic Center, the committee will have coordinated some 50 clubs and approximately 700 volunteers. Marieta Hauser said, “Nearly every club or organization in town helps in some way.”
Another remarkable fact is that the admission to the dinner costs a mere $5, which buys a meal, a collector button with each year’s artwork and live entertainment. The proceeds from the dinner are donated to the Grant County Scholarship Foundation which supports local high school seniors. Each year the dinner is held on the third Tuesday of September.
In American society today, there’s seems to be renewed interest in local foods. Grant County seems to be way ahead of the curve, having celebrating their local foods for decades.
So guess who’s coming to dinner? Yes, the Governor and some 1,500 other people. They will enjoy a good meal of products grown right there in Grant County. We commend the many volunteers and community leaders who have made a difference by helping this event succeed and grow through the years. Not only have they promoted local foods, the proceeds generated for the Grant County Scholarship Foundation have made it possible to award nearly $100,000 to local high school seniors.
Pass the milo doughnuts, please.
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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.
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