RONAN — The Ronan Community Center had a full house all afternoon last Thursday for the 7th Annual Ronan Thanksgiving Dinner.

For many in attendance, it wasn’t about getting a handout or eating a free meal; it was about having a warm place to spend the holiday. A place where good music and friendly company were paramount.

“There’s a lot of visiting going on,” organizer Cheri Houle said. “We see a lot of elderly people who might not need a free meal, but don’t have family to spend the day with and they like the company.”

Along with the entire menu having been donated, Houle said the Salish and Kootenai Tribes, a generous community and about 50 local volunteers helped make the free dinner a success. Local musical talents One Room Schoolhouse, Geno Harper and the Little Big Band played everything from praise and western tunes to rock and roll and Polson High School freshman Logan Stephens impressed the audience with his quick fingers on the accordion.

Polson’s Aspen Many Hides came out to the community center to volunteer with her family. Shuttling fresh slices of pumpkin pie and lemon bars to the loaded dessert table, Many Hides worked hard, always with a smile on her face.

“We wanted to share the spirit of Thanksgiving,” she said. “I love it.”

Whether you liked your meal smothered in gravy or dressings on the side, volunteers distributed hefty plates of food until it had just about run out. Pies, rolls, turkeys, hams and all the trimmings were either made at home and donated, or baked at the community center by volunteers. Such an endeavor is no small task, but it’s one that now 83-year-old Marie Cowen used to do on her own.

For years, Cowen owned the Ronan Cafe. She’d waited tables all her life until one day decided to start her own cafe with an affordable menu in Ronan. That first year, she was new to town, and had just a daughter and a son to keep her company over the holiday. She thought there may be 40 or so people that had no place to go for Thanksgiving, so she cooked a free meal to feed those 40 or so mouths. Problem was, come Turkey Day, there was a solid line of hungry folks clear around the block.

“We were scraping the bottoms of the bowls that year,” Cowen said, but she fired up the grill and was able to feed everyone with hamburgers in the end.

She continued the tradition of a free community meal every Thanksgiving and Christmas, until both holidays became too much and she downsized the operation to just a Christmastime event.

“Everbody figured I was gonna go broke in three months,” she said, “but no, it was the best advertising I could get.”

Word spread: the atmosphere was good and the food was better, and Cowen’s cooking was the talk of the town.

“We used to deliver clear to Arlee,” she said. “It was such a great thing, but that last year, it just became too much.”

At her final Christmas feast, Cowen filled more than 900 plates of food. She cooked 19 turkeys and 17 hams for the occasion, the largest bird weighing 42 pounds.

“It’s so much better to give than it is to receive,” she said, happy that the Ronan Community Volunteers and the Ronan Chamber of Commerce has since taken over the tradition. “I really enjoyed it.”

Still keeping her fingers in the pot, Cowen even cooked up three turkeys and a bunch of dinner rolls for this year’s community feast. And she contributed plenty of friendly conversation as well. If not on her feet dancing to the music, Cowen was sure to be found visiting with her many friends at the truely community event.