News you can use
News you can use
Havre Daily News/Nikki Carlson
Davey School seventh-grader Makenna Vukasin, center, eats a Thanksgiving feast with her parents Al and Judy Vukasin Tuesday morning at the school. Davey School students prepared a Thanksgiving meal with all of the fixings all day Monday and continued Tuesday morning, where their families joined them in a Thanksgiving feast.
Opportunities for holiday spirit abound in north-central Montana this weekend, with the season kicking off with Thanksgiving Day Thursday.
For people looking for something to do, a few activities over the long weekend jump out with ideas of things you can do.
People in the Havre area can help serve Thanksgiving Thursday, with organizers of a decades-long tradition looking each year to help with the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner.
The preparation starts today at St. Jude Parish Center with volunteers preparing the kitchen and dining area and readying vegetable relish trays.
Cooking starts early Thursday, readying the meals and putting together food to be delivered in the morning. Calls for meals to be delivered must be made by 5 p. m. today, to the North Central Senior Citizens Center at 265-5464.
After the takeout meals are delivered, the main meal — with no takeouts allowed — will be served from 11 a. m. to 2 p. m., with volunteers cleaning up the area afterward.
The main kickoff of Christmas in Havre — aside from the shopping Friday — is set for Saturday with the community Christmas Tree Lighting at Town Square at 5:30 p. m.
Members of the Havre High School choir will be leading caroling, fires will be lit for people to warm their hands, vendors will have hot chocolate and other refreshments, and the guests of honor — Mr. and Mrs. Claus — are expected to arrive about 6 p. m. Other celebrities like Dr. Seuss' The Grinch and SpongeBob SquarePants also are expected to attend.
People can register at the Holiday Village Mall, the Atrium Shopping Mall and Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods to win gift certificates, with a first-place and second-place drawing for gift certificates good for merchandise from local Havre Chamber members, and a special children's basket. People must be present at the tree lighting to win.
As Havre gets ready for its Fourth Annual Festival of Trees, the Chinook Chamber of Commerce is kicking off their own on Friday night.
The trees, adorned and surrounded by the charitable contributions of the festival's participants, will be on display in Shore's Floral Greenhouse on Indiana Street from 1 to 7 p. m.
During that time visitors can bid in a silent auction to win the tree and everything that goes with it.
The funds raised from the auction will go to help fix-up and insulate the Blaine County Fairgrounds commercial building, so that it can be used comfortably year-round.
The Salvation Army provides food, clothing and other services to needy people year-round, but most of its budget is raised during the Christmas season. And most of that is collected from donations to the red kettle.
The sound of the bell ringers is a tradition, but it is getting harder and harder to find people with the time to volunteer for bell ringing, according to Trina Crawford, the director of social services for Havre's Salvation Army.
If enough volunteers don't sign up, the Salvation Army has to hire part-timers to ring the bells. That takes away from the money needed to help needy people.
People have a good time ringing the bell, Crawford said. They get a sense of fulfillment by raising the money, and they have a good time chatting with old friends they come across.
To volunteer, call the Salvation Army at 265- 6411.
The day after Thanksgiving is an eventful one in downtown Chinook.
The Christmas Stroll begins at 1 p. m. with downtown shops and museums which stay open for extended hours, until 7 p. m.
Santa will be at Wells Fargo Bank from 2 p. m. until the Parade of Lights begins at 6 p. m. at Meadowlark School and proceeds down Indiana Street, through downtown.
"It's a good way to kick off the holiday season and maybe get some of your Christmas shopping done, " said Nancy Diemert, vice president of the Chinook Chamber of Commerce and head of organizing the parade.
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