The enthusiastic and energetic members of the Grahamsville United Methodist Church served a St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner in their Social Hall behind the church on Friday, March 13 and a welcoming and hungry community packed the place. In addition, there was a separate long line for “take outs.” Advance ticket sales give little indication of how large the “show up at the door” crowd there would be.

Fortunately, the planner over-ordered and there was enough for everyone - and for “seconds.” An indication of how large a crowd would come was that at opening time at 4:00 pm, the church parking lot was filled and by 4:30, so was the Time and Valley Museum and Daniel Pierce Library across the way, and parking on Route 55.

The friendly crowd waited patiently as the church folk scrambled to fill orders, seat and serve people, clean and reset tables. Many folks volunteered to help. And many youngsters volunteered on the spot to help serve, set up and clean up.

And the wait was well worth it as the aroma of corned beef and cabbage filled the room and lively Irish music filled the hall. But there was no room or time for dancing.

A special "Hoo Hahl" goes to the overworked crew of cooks and chef, consisting of Jason McCarthy, who cooked the corned been the night before. Cutting and cooking the carrots and potatoes and lots and lots of cabbage was Chris Gibson and Kevin and Cathy Murphy. The frantic kitchen crew and serving consisted of somewhere between 10 to 15 people. Everything was well cooked, soft and delicious, serve with coffee, tea and finish with Irish Soda Bread. For dessert, the women had cooked brownies and cake served with globs of ice cream.

And a word of thanks to Pastor Harriet for her enthusiasm and encouragement.

Victoria Eddings, who is on the Board of Trustees, cheerfully announced that it has been six (6) years since the Grahamsville United Methodist Church held a community dinner. Tammie Short is the president of the Board of Trustees. Perhaps this church dinner is the start or continuation of our community renaissance.