Behind 63 Years of the Home Products Dinner

The Home Products Dinner was spectacularly abuzz with people. It felt like a Thanksgiving for the Grant County community and beyond, bringing together familiar and new faces to celebrate the industries, traditions and people that make the community special.

Everyone arrived in their best suits, while dignitaries gathered beforehand and volunteers and committee members worked behind the scenes to prepare the kitchen.

Guests eventually made their way through the serving line, filling their plates with beef and barbecue sauce, sweet corn, scalloped potatoes, pinto beans, candied squash and wheat rolls. Dessert included watermelon, melon doughnuts and ice cream. Strawberry jam sat on the tables as volunteers, including the school superintendent in an apron, circulated with tea, coffee and water.

Throughout the evening, community members were recognized and appreciated in many ways, from formal acknowledgments of their accomplishments, including Marietta Hauser being honored as Citizen of the Year, to being good-naturedly singled out in comedian Michael Joiner’s jokes.

The venue itself celebrated the area’s agricultural heritage, decorated with sunflowers, pumpkins, hay bales and a tractor.

For one evening, it felt as though everyone could set their differences aside and simply enjoy a longstanding tradition while celebrating the people and community that have kept it alive.

Still, the work behind the evening’s success is no small feat. Preparing for the Home Products Dinner begins months before guests ever arrive.

“It is an all-year-long process,” said Robin Leonard, who took charge of the Home Products Dinner as the Chamber director. “We start in January, and then we have monthly meetings with our committee members.”

The committee consists of eight men and eight women, with members serving four-year terms. Each year, the committee as a whole works to find candidates who are willing to take on the responsibility.

“They decide yay or nay, and then we reach out to the individual and lay out the expectations and the amount of work involved,” Leonard said. “Then we let them decide if they want to join us or not.”

The physical work begins about a week before the dinner, when committee members begin gathering supplies and preparing the Civic Center.

“Every year’s a little different,” Leonard said. “This year, we stuck pretty much to the book, as it was my first year. We wanted to follow the plans that Marita has laid out and that have worked successfully.”

This year’s theme was “Harvesting America’s Plains,” which was incorporated into the button art, placemats and other elements of the dinner.

The theme is selected around November or December, after which local artists interpret it.

“They incorporate that theme into their art, and then we select the button art,” Leonard said.

The buttons feature a farmer in a wheat field, with grain silos and a combine in the background, framed by wheat stalks. The artwork celebrates the beauty of the agricultural industries that contribute to Grant County and the dinner.

Businesses contributed in different ways to the dinner. Some donate money or food, while others provide materials for decorations or allow committee members to harvest corn and milo from their fields. Even the newspaper contributes as a beef donor.

Volunteers also assisted. A physical education class helps wipe down tables and chairs. FFA and FCCLA students help make sure the placemats are ready. The Boy Scouts assist with parking and participate in the colors.

“It takes nearly everyone in town,” Leonard said. “Someone, somehow, has a way of contributing to this dinner, and I think that’s awesome.”

Even with 63 years of experience behind the tradition, things do not always go according to plan.

One of the biggest changes involved the beef, which men on the committee traditionally cook. However, the cooker had broken down and was not functioning properly.

“They didn’t have a chance or the time to work on it, so we found a new alternative,” Leonard said. Jon Fort of the All American Battalion graciously agreed to cook the beef.

Because the men on the committee were no longer occupied with cooking the beef, they were available to help the women with other preparations.

“A lot of times, we’re waiting for them to finish up the beef so they can help us move things or go do things,” Leonard said. “This year, since we didn’t have that on our plate, they were able to help us a lot more.”

Other challenges arose along the way, including with the high school, which traditionally cooks the beans for the dinner. However, two weeks before the event, the committee received a call saying the kettle used to cook the beans was not working.

“They were able to get it fixed and get the beans done, but that was a moment of panic and trying to pivot and figure out what to do,” Leonard said.

The watermelon crop also took a hit.

“Our watermelon crop got decimated by coyotes,” she said.

The committee had to find another source, eventually getting part of its supply from a local farmer and the rest from a grocery store.

Even though “there were a lot of moments of, ‘Oh no, what are we going to do?’” the committee always had plenty of people willing to help find solutions.

“Our committee was so great this year about coming up with answers and coming together as a group and saying, ‘Well, I know this person,’ or ‘I know this person,’ or ‘We tried this.’”

“They work really well together,” she said. “Especially during my first Home Products Dinner, they welcomed me in and helped me whenever I said, ‘Wait a minute, why do we do it this way?’”

“We had so many times where, you know, just an offhand joke or all of us being so tired and worn out would get us giggling,” Leonard said. “We just all worked together so well.”

“It sounds cheesy, but [the Home Products Dinner is] like a family.”

“It’s nice to have everybody in town come together and sit at the same tables,” she said. “Even if you don’t agree on politics or you don’t agree with what’s going on somewhere else, for that night, you can all come together and eat and enjoy the entertainment and just have a good time.”

During the evening, Marita Hauser was named Citizen of the Year, a recognition Leonard felt was well deserved.

“I think Marita was very well-deserving of the Citizen of the Year award,” she said. “I was so pleased that we were able to surprise her with it.”

Among other accomplishments, Hauser was the former director of the Chamber.

“She has done it for many years, and she knows everyone in town,” Leonard said. “She’ll give the shirt off her back for you. She’s amazing.”

“I was just thrilled that we were able to keep it a secret from her and that we were able to have her family there to help her.”

Hauser’s recognition is a microcosm of the Home Products Dinner itself: a community tradition sustained by people willing to offer their time, resources and dedication to something bigger than themselves.

Much work happens behind the scenes to make the Home Products Dinner possible. But when the plates are full, conversations are lively, and the community gathers around the same tables, that work manifests as a joyful tradition that continues to bring Grant County and beyond together.