After Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, four couples stood outside of the Pocketstone Cafe in Bigfork Village, laughing and telling jokes. The group of neighbors from nearby Harbor Village had nothing but praise for the homemade turkey dinner with all of the fixings they’d just been served by about 45 community volunteers.

Inside the cafe, volunteers hurried from table to kitchen and back, occasionally stopping to shake a hand or smile and say “Hello.”

It’s become a tradition in Bigfork, said Pocketstone owner Dave Vale. This was the fifth year the Pocketstone has opened its doors on “Turkey Day,” offering the community a meal for a free-will donation.

“It just seemed like a fun thing to do for Thanksgiving,” Vale said. “We enjoy being a part of the community. The type of food we serve, which is home cooking, sandwiches, hamburgers — breakfast and lunch — was not really a Thanksgiving dinner. So we figured if we were going to step outside of our model, we would just make it a community Thanksgiving dinner and give us a chance to give back to the community, and give the community a chance to come together for an event.”

The Bigfork community comes together in a big way for Thanksgiving. The proceeds from the free-will donation go straight to the Bigfork Food Bank and more than $2,000 is raised each year.

“We originally set it up as a free Thanksgiving dinner, because we wanted it to be accessible to everybody,” Vale said. “We didn’t want to scare anyone away, so what we did is put out a donation jar, so those people that can contribute do, and those people who can’t, don’t. We don’t keep track and we don’t care.”

The gathering is more about community spirit rather than food or donations.

Doug and Grace Scott, who have a vacation home in Bigfork, first volunteered at the Pocketstone on Thanksgiving two years ago. This year, the Northfield, Minn., residents said they had to bring another couple from their church in Minnesota to celebrate the holiday in Bigfork.

“We just told them, you have to come out to celebrate Thanksgiving and see how they do it in Montana,” Grace said.

Doug said the couple love to volunteer. “What a way to show gratitude, to provide a meal for people. We’re just so happy to be here,” he said.

The Pocketstone serves about 180 people in three staggered seatings between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. A fourth seating is held for the volunteers after the community has been served.

“We try to create a family atmosphere, even during the year when we’re serving our regular menu, but when we bring all the volunteers and all of the community in here and serve turkey and dressing, it kind of feels like a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving,” Vale said.

As volunteers — many of whom were regular employees — bustled around tables, Vale wandered, shook hands and visited with customers. Occasionally, Ken Ripple would come out of the kitchen where he was volunteer-in-charge of carving turkeys and play a tune or two on the fiddle.

“I think it’s time to give back, simple as that,” said Ripple, who was volunteering for the third year in a row, but playing fiddle there for the first. “Nobody’s thrown any muffins at me,” he said.

SYKES DINER in Kalispell had a similar feel, but on a slightly larger scale.

The larger cafe had about 150 volunteers working to serve more than 1,000 people — about 650 people dining in between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and another 350 for take-out or deliveries to the homebound.

Denise Houtz was volunteering for her fifth year and was serving as a volunteer coordinator, as well as answering the phone and generally directing the chaos.

“The big thing about this is that it’s a community thing,” Houtz said. “And that goes for the volunteers as well. I have a lot of volunteers here that are single and appreciate the meal just as much.”

Devonna Benware and her 16-year-old daughter, Katelynn, walked in, asking if they could help in any way, and were turned away. The pair had already eaten at home and had simply come to help, if they could.

Meanwhile, the cheery group outside of the Pocketstone Cafe seemed full — and thankful. One man said the meal was “just like home,” as another woman joked, “Better than at my house.”

“Now we’re all going to our house to play poker, drink wine and watch a football game,” one woman said, adding that a nap could be in the cards, too.

Reporter Brittany Brevik can be reached at 758-4459 or bbrevik@dailyinterlake.com.