Community Opinions 19 October 2022

REFLECTIONS

lutefisk
Donna Maixner, of Blooming Prairie, was behind the scenes during Saturday’s lutefisk dinner at First Lutheran Church. She doesn’t care for lutefisk, but her shirt speaks for itself. Lefse was also on the menu for the 800 people who came through the doors. Staff photo by Kay Fate
Nearly 800 served lutefisk and meatballs in BP
By
Howard Lestrud, Contributing Writer

It could have been called a Norwegian Holiday last Saturday when some eager lutefisk fans rushed into the First Lutheran Church of Blooming Prairie to taste some fishy morsels called lutefisk.

Some people love it, and others love to hate it.

It takes a small army of volunteers to have a successful event. More than 100 volunteers helped produce this event that many have been waiting two years to devour. Last year’s scheduled lutefisk dinner was scrapped because of COVID.

Several months ago, the dinner was in jeopardy with no urge to rekindle the fires and schedule another lutefisk dinner. Finally, a signup sheet was posted at the church, asking for volunteers. A favorable response kept the lutefisk dinner alive.

“It was wonderful,” exclaimed one lutefisk diner. “Uffda,” said another as he plugged his nose.

Ruth Earl, chair of the event, said the dinner “went wonderfully well.” It took nearly 100 volunteers to pull it off, she said.

It’s more than a fish dinner. It is a time for old friends to get together once again by breaking bread. One lutefisk lover came from Alaska.

Let’s take a look at some lutefisk statistics for 2022:

LUTEFISK DINNER - Oct. 15

  1. How many were served? Sold 200 tickets for each seating (3), plus 78 workers and over 100 for takeout – nearly 800.
  2. How many workers were there? 100, Chair Earl said. Workers were happy to see the dinner moved to a Saturday and done in one session, rather than day and night sessions.
  3. How many pounds of lutefisk were purchased? 825 pounds
  4. How many meat balls were made? 112 pounds of hamburger
  5. How many pounds of potatoes were bought? 500 pounds
  6. How much cranberry salad was made? 56 pounds
  7. How much corn? 18 cans
  8. Dessert: lefse-750 rounds, rosettes-1,000, krumkake-1,000
  9. Where does the money go? Various causes

10) Other comments? Chair Earl thanked Lakeside Foods of Owatonna for donations, Blooming Prairie DQ for milk donations, and Kwik Trip for a discount on purchase of butter (150 pounds).