Last-minute venue change saves annual dinner

A change in venues nearly cancelled the sit-down portion of the Westman and Area Traditional Christmas Dinner, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

After some last-minute scrambling, the event will now be held at the Victoria Inn in Brandon.

The Keystone Centre has hosted the dinner on Christmas Day annually since 2022, but in early November, the planning committee was informed they would have to secure a new venue.

“We kind of had to act fast to have a plan B,” Frank McGwire, the committee’s media relations director, told the Sun Tuesday.

He said the committee started putting calls out to places that could possibly host the dinner, including Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School and the Victoria Inn, which “graciously” accepted to take on the role.

Had the committee not been able to secure the Imperial Ballroom at the hotel, or another venue, about 1,500 people who annually sit down for the dinner would have been by themselves on Christmas, McGwire said.

The services provided at the traditional dinner would have been reduced to offering community members takeout only, he said.

McGwire wouldn’t say why the Keystone Centre was unable to host the dinner in the MNP Hall.

The Sun reached out to the Keystone Centre for comment on Wednesday, but did not hear back before press time.

In previous years, a total of 3,000 people have received takeout or eaten at the dinner, and this year the committee is preparing to meet that same benchmark, McGwire said.

“It just keeps on increasing year after year, and I think we’ll be ready for it,” he said.

“If you’re going to be alone, you got no family, you got no friends to be with, you can be with us and you can share in the day.”

The turkey dinner is open for everyone to attend from noon until 4 p.m. on Dec. 25. Food will be available throughout the day as people continue to line up.

Santa Claus will also be available to take pictures and hand out small gifts to children and youth.

“We’re doing this because no one should be alone at Christmas, and that’s what inspires us to keep doing it year after year,” McGwire said.

“It’s a good way to spread the spirit of the season and give back to our community.”

The tradition was started in 1985 by Rocky Addison and his family and friends, who served Christmas dinner to about 30 people in the basement of a church in downtown Brandon, McGwire said.

Since then, the supper has outgrown the church and the Prairie Oasis Senior Centre, where it was also formerly held. Gladden Smith, who’s the chair of the planning committee, took over operations in the 1990s, McGwire said. Smith was unable to provide an interview with the Brandon Sun on Tuesday.

This will be the first time the dinner is hosted at the Victoria Inn. Brent Miller, the general manager at the hotel, said he spoke with Smith a couple of weeks ago and heard about the challenges the committee was facing to find a new venue.

“The team here decided that it’s the best for the community if we step up and lend a hand,” Miller said.

“As far as I know, everything is going to be fairly seamless to what they’ve been doing the last few years at the Keystone Centre.”

Miller expects to see thousands of people filter through the Imperial Ballroom, which has a capacity of between 300 and 400 people, who will be served either takeout or a dish to sit down and enjoy alongside others.

“Between the people that are helping cook the food, donate the food (and) serve the food, we are just one part of it, but we’re very happy that the 40th traditional Christmas dinner will go ahead this year,” Miller said.

The dinner is sponsored by more than 25 businesses and organizations in Brandon, including the food distribution company Sysco, which donated about 150 turkeys, McGwire said.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com