Weekly comments from Dale Martin

by Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
December 28, 2018 12:00 p.m.

Shortly before Christmas, I threw out the idea that we consider a Community Christmas Dinner. The initial response was hesitancy- let’s do some planning for next year. I pushed a little and said let’s make it happen this year, but then considered that maybe waiting a year might not be a bad thing. The tables were turned on me, though, as the preliminary response from church officials (which would host the event) was very warmly received. Nothing ventured, nothing gained- so we moved from concept to planning.

Except we didn’t have much to plan. We had the graciousness of the First Presbyterian Church to host the dinner, but not much else. We picked a time that would seem to be convenient for a holiday dinner (mid-afternoon), but really nothing else. I wrote one article for the local media that ran four days before Christmas Day.

I had some skeptics about the whole thing: in fact, I live with one. I told Lisa that I figured the worst that would happen is that no one would show up, we’d have a few leftovers, and I’d show up to work on Wednesday none the worse for the effort. Once Lisa realized that it was going to happen, she was committed to at least being able to say we gave it a first-class effort.

With the dinner conceived as a potluck (bring-a-dish-to-share) event, an initial concern was to ensure that we had enough meat. I solicited interest from friends on City staff and we bought two large hams ourselves. Lisa bought things to use as table favors- coffee mugs and candy. We then waited for Christmas Day to happen.

Lisa threw the hams into our slow cookers- oops, the smaller of the two was a little too small, so I ran across the street to borrow a neighbor’s larger cooker. Not a good start to the day, but the prep schedule wasn’t affected. Lisa now turned her concern to the adequacy of side dishes- what if we didn’t have enough? She decided she had to make some potatoes and a fruit salad. The cooking and preparation was completed by 12:30 and we headed to the church. On the way, Lisa fretted that we didn’t have any bread rolls to complement the dinner. Nothing to do about that now.

We arrived at the church at 1:00 PM, and a few church friends had arrived slightly earlier to arrange the tables, both for the food and for dining. They asked me if I thought the tables were enough, and I could only say that I had no idea how many or what to expect.

Then the people started coming. Susan and Lou Goldman will be forever recorded as the first guests to arrive at the inaugural dinner.

Angie and Rex Lester brought a ham, Lorelei and Buddy Jacobs brought a turkey, Andre Desilet brought a turkey. In the end, we had four hams, four turkeys, and some fired chicken: the meats were ample. The Police Department delivered pies and cookies. The side dishes and other desserts crowded the tables, so we had to add another eight-foot table simply to accommodate the desserts alone. And bread rolls stacked warm and high (but we had to scramble for butter)!

Lisa commanded the kitchen, slicing and warming the meats. I kept greeting and directing guests, thanking them for joining us. Most of the visitors were unknown to me, but they expressed their own thanks for the organization of the event. I tried to encourage people to sit with “strangers,” but everyone seemed so congenial with each other that I don’t think anyone would have been considered a stranger.

Dinner started promptly at 2:30- no one needed much instruction on how to proceed past the food. I think nearly everyone made a repeat visit to the table, especially the dessert end (I loved the “ugly sweater cookies”!). At around 4:00, it seemed as if the unspoken consensus was that dinner was over and it was time to pack up. The crowd of about sixty-five people took their dishes and had dispersed by 4:30 PM. With a few others, we had the dishes washed, the kitchen cleaned, lots of leftover food packed for Hope House, the hall restored, and the doors locked at 5:00 PM.

The dinner was a simple and spontaneous idea that was an unexpected and incredible success due to everyone that joined us for dinner. I truly enjoyed meeting everyone that afternoon. It was a very joyful gathering. Thank you to the First Presbyterian Church for hosting the event. Thank you also for being such a wonderful community- it was a thrill to dine with you.

I look forward to next year’s event, beginning, I hope, a new tradition in Fernandina Beach.

Remember the Shrimp Drop on Monday evening at 7:00 PM at the Amelia River waterfront, with fireworks immediately after. Happy New Year!