STONY BEACH, Sask. — Steam billows from tall shiny pots on side-by-side stoves in the kitchen at Stony Beach hall.
There is as much room in this kitchen as there is in many of today’s new homes, but these cooks are feeding about 200 people instead of a single family. Counter space is at a premium.
The fall supper is an annual event in most communities. Pulling it together in Stony Beach, however, is a feat.
Just six people live in the tiny farming hamlet north of the Trans-Canada Highway a few kilometres from the Mosaic potash mine, Yara fertilizer plant, Terra Grain ethanol plant, Canada Salt and Alpine Plant Food fertilizer plant.
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Yet for years, the community has held its fall supper and attracted diners from as far as Moose Jaw and Regina.
Jane Walsh, president of the Stony Beach Community Club women who organize the meal, explained how they do it.
“We always get the help,” she said. The club meets monthly and as fall approaches, its members simply take charge, she said. People within about a 10-kilometre radius are asked to contribute.
“Someone will phone around for pies,” Walsh said. “We usually need 48 to 50 pies.”
The Belle Plaine Hutterite Colony, just north of the hamlet, provides about 45 kilograms of potatoes. The club also purchases the turkeys — usually seven birds about 9.5 kilograms each — from the colony.
Six large bags of vegetables, pickles, buns and condiments complete the shopping list.
It’s all prepared in the tiny kitchen except for the turkeys, which are cooked off-site and brought to the hall.
“We start cooking about 2:30,” Walsh said.
And they continue until everyone is fed.
“We don’t stop people from going back,” she said. “You can have as many pieces of pie as you want.
“We have never run out of food so we must be doing something right.”
Busy in the kitchen, the club members don’t often have time to visit with the patrons so they aren’t just sure what keeps them coming back. Walsh said as some people leave, they will call out, ‘See you next year’ and that’s a compliment in itself.
The secret to their success really lies in the dressing and gravy contributed by those who cooked the turkeys.
“We mix it all together at the hall,” Walsh said. “It tastes so good.”
Ruby Douglas, who grew up in Bethune, continues to come to the supper even though she now lives in Moose Jaw.
“I always liked Stony Beach,” she said. “I curled here for years. It never seemed to grow much, but it was booming when curling was on.”
She and her husband, Neil Soles, watch for the ad to appear in their paper and make it the first of four or five suppers they attend each fall.
As people come through the door and the tables fill, Marj Mariam hugs many of them.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” she said, as she greets former residents and relatives who come out to support the community.
In contrast, Norma King just recently moved from the Claydon area to a farm south of the highway. She is getting involved to get to know her new community.
That’s good news for a small ladies’ club.
Walsh said it has been hard to find members and workers some years.
“The last couple of years, some more people have moved into the area,” she said.
The non-profit organization holds several other events during the year, including a ladies’ night in the spring where the men have to wait on them. Some of the husbands will also take over shifts during the fall supper.
The club recently paid for new hall windows and toilets. The members are now raising money to fix the basement.
