Turkey dinners from West Barre church are proven election day winner

Photos by Tom Rivers

BARRE – It’s an election day winner, every year for at least a half century: a turkey dinner with an assortment of pie served by the West Barre United Methodist Church.

The top photo shows church volunteers getting takeout containers full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, squash and cranberry sauce.

From left include Lanor Markle, Dan Shuler and Randy Huffman with Alice Mathes on the opposite side of the table.

The church served 482 dinners that were available by presale. The meals have been take-out only since the Covid pandemic in 2020.

“We do it on election day to encourage people to vote and then eat, or to eat and then vote,” said Ruth Miller, a longtime church volunteer.

She can recall the church serving the Thanksgiving-style dinners for at least 50 years.

Church volunteers worked on the dinner the past four days. They cooked 28 turkeys.

These strawberry pies were among 14 different types of pie for people to choose from for the dinner.

Lee Preston gets the tickets from Nancy Muoio and two of her friends.

“It’s a home-cooked meal that I don’t have to cook,” said Barb Titus-Canham, who was in the vehicle with Muoio. The group was going back to Titus-Canham’s home to enjoy the meal together.

Muoio said she has been looking forward to the meal. The big draw: “The pies,” she said.