Fellowship, feasts for Thanksgiving

Hospitality was on the menu Thursday, along with things old and new.

Hundreds of people were fed turkey and traditional trimmings at several Flathead Valley restaurants ranging from Sykes', a refurbished eatery in downtown Kalispell, to Pockestone Cafe, a new business in Bigfork.

Ray and Ladiene Thompson, new owners of Sykes', resumed the restaurant's Thanksgiving tradition of serving free holiday meals.

For Sykes' employee Denise Houtz, it was her first time organizing the event.

Houtz, who works as a cashier and front-end manager at the Second Avenue West business, said she was "so thankful it went so smooth. I ended up with more help than I needed."

The day for Houtz was special for other reasons, too: It was her 54th birthday.

Restaurant patrons made the occasion festive by singing "Happy Birthday" to her shortly after 1 p.m. "It falls on Thanksgiving every six or seven years," Houtz said.

Some 225 people volunteered for the Sykes' holiday operation. Many helped with preparatory work such as peeling potatoes and deboning and slicing turkey earlier in the week.

Home deliveries were made to people beginning at 10 a.m. Twenty drivers helped with that effort.

"We planned about 1,250 meals" including 250 deliveries, Houtz said.

Rose Behrens shared memories of when her husband served as a greeter at Sykes' for Thanksgiving.

Behrens' husband died in 2006, she said, but noted he told a downtown barber about the holiday meal two days prior to the event five years ago.

The barber was expecting a dozen or so visitors at his home and had planned to cook a 25-pound turkey. His wife couldn't fit the bird in the oven, however, so they came to Sykes'. That was a surprise, Behrens said. "If you're turkey's too big, go to Sykes' for dinner," she said.

Colleen Ramsey, 56, grew up in Kalispell. Her folks used to come to Sykes'. This year she read about the feast in the newspaper and decided to volunteer. "I know what Sykes' means to a lot of people," she said as she finished her meal. Ramsey peeled potatoes on Monday and helped clean up Thursday.

The longtime memories at the downtown Kalispell restaurant contrasted with new memories being created at Pocketstone Cafe in Bigfork.

Owners David and Carolyn Vale and Karie Stidham opened the restaurant in early June. They decided to give back to the community by hosting a Thanksgiving Day dinner.

The Electric Avenue business was busy from 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. as diners feasted on turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Dutch apple, cherry and pumpkin pie were available for dessert along with pumpkin bars and chocolate brownies.

More than $2,100 in donations will be given to the Bigfork Food Pantry. Reservations were encouraged but walk-ins also were accepted on a space-available basis. Approximately 170 people were served.

Benj Scout, 70, and his friend Jon Dobrocke heard about the feast while visiting the cafe and decided to help. "I'm a regular here," Scout said. "I was sitting at the counter and they said, ‘We're going to have to have volunteers to make this work.' I said, ‘I'll do it.'" The retired police officer dressed up in cowboy garb for the event and served as a greeter.

Scout and Dobrocke, 47, a metal fabricator in Ferndale, were two of 30 volunteers at the restaurant.

Carolyn and Scott Turner brought their children, Ceciley, 11, and Alec, 9, for lunch along with Carolyn's dad, Jim Smith, 80, of Whitefish.

Carolyn found out about the event through her friend Lillian Levi at Glacier Bank. "We thought it would be great because the money is donated to the food bank," she said.

"The food was great," Scott said. "I'd do it again next year."

Erin Raff of Bigfork brought her children, 16-month-old Austin and 3-year-old Kimberly. They were invited by Raff's pastor at The Little Brown Church.

Raff said her husband Scott couldn't be with them because he had to work at Walmart.

"I like it," Raff said. "I think it's really nice they took the time out of their holiday to feed the community."