The election-day dinner held at Grace Lutheran Church in Trempealeau County has been going on so long that even its older organizers can’t remember when it started.
Congregation members continued that rural church’s tradition during the April 2 Wisconsin spring general election.
“It’s well over 60 years in the making,” said Marsha Girtman, one of the co-chairpeople of the lunch at the community of Pleasantville in the town of Hale. “Primary or general election days, we host an election-day dinner.”
The meal serves as the small congregation’s primary fundraiser. But the Rev. Peter Jonas said it also serves to bring togetherness even in times of the most contentious politics.
“After all the sound and fury, everybody coming over here and sitting together, elbow-to-elbow, it reminds us all that — you know — we’re all human beings in the end and we have to figure out a way to be a community despite our differences,” Pastor Jonas said. “You know, it’s a great ministry that way. It really highlights what holds people together.”
Though the Hale Town Hall — the town’s only polling place — is right across county Highway E from the church, the dinner brings people in from a large area. It’s an election-day tradition for many people from many municipalities, Girtman said.
She said a highlight about the dinner is that organizers change the menu from election-to-election. The April 2 dinner was no exception.
“We usually have mashed potatoes, but we fooled them this time and had scalloped potatoes,” she said.
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