Oden Hall is hosting its annual spring benefit today at Oden Hall.

The benefit will begin at 11 a.m. at the hall, located at 143 Sunnyside Road.

The Oden Busy Bees will be cooking up hot dogs and selling concessions. There will also be a dessert auction by Tom Spade and a live auction with Jeff Sater as well as raffles games and more.

The Eagles will be providing a car bar with beer and wine.

All proceeds will go toward fresh paint, building repairs and maintenance as well as major roof repairs.

Attendees are encouraged to carpool if possible as parking is limited at the hall.

The hall dates back to the late 1920s when Mrs. John Lloyd suggested the Oden community have a central gathering point, according to the Idaho Heritage Trust.

After the idea was presented to the Oden Busy Bees, Matt Schmidt donated land for the building and others donated lumber and construction material and volunteers built the hall.

The hall was completed in 1931 and is still in use today, including by many of the same families. 

Jerry and Charlene Fitzpatrick, in a 2015 video shared by the trust, recalled his grandparents moving to the area in 1911 and helping to build the hall after it was proposed in 1928.

"They didn't build it all at one time," Jerry Fitzpatrick shared in the video. "This hall was built in sections. If you look around, you can see where the window holes were cut in and then they kept improving as they got more money."

Don Johnson, who was interviewed by the trust along with his wife, Nancy, recalls his first visit to the hall as a toddler. 

"I used to come down her with my folks and I used to sleep right over here on the bench while they was dancing," he said. 

After moving to the Oden area with her family from Coeur d'Alene in 1943, Delores Campbell told trust officials that she remembered her dad playing for the dances and the family's seven children sleeping on the benches while their parents socialized and danced.

Clint Campbell, who was interviewed with his wife, Delores, said his grandparents moved to the Oden Bay area in 1928 when they bought 89 acres. His parents followed in 1947.

Mary Stevens recalls meeting her husband at the hall when she was 13 years old; however, they weren't allowed to date until she was 14.

The longtime residents interviewed by the trust recalled dances, community events and even roller-skating at the hall.

"Everything has always been done here," Charlene Fitzpatrick told trust officials in the video. "And we've always danced here."

Like the Fitzpatricks, the Johnsons said they have been memories linked to the hall.

"We had our 25th anniversary here and there's just all kinds of people who have had their anniversaries and things here as the years went by," Nancy Johnson said.

The group noted that the Oden Busy Bees is among the oldest women's organizations in Bonner County, if not the oldest. Club members help take care of the hall, holding events such as today's spring benefit.

Information: bit.ly/4e12Ek8

    A photo of Oden Hall, located in the Sunnyside area.