Lots to be thankful for at elementary feast

Hundreds of students, faculty members and special guests dined together at Evergreen Elementary School last week ahead of the holiday.

Held November 22, this year's Primary Thanksgiving Feast was the fourth annual. The celebration includes a real meal of turkey, potatoes, dressing and all the fixings. Dishes were prepared by parents and served up by volunteers.

Aimed at kindergarteners through second graders, the festive gathering is preceded by lessons on the Thanksgiving holiday, traditionally held to be the 1621 meal between Separatist settlers of Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts and Wampanoag tribe members. The harvest festival has had official acknowledgement in the United States since 1789, and has been a federal holiday since 1863.

Bringing things closer to home, Evergreen's celebration also focuses on local Native culture, with a dance presentation by the Johnson O'Malley program's Kaats'litaan and Wolf Troupe dancers leading off the celebration. Instructor Virginia Oliver announced the JOM group would be going to the biannual Celebration gathering in Juneau next summer. The dancers have made a trip there for every such gathering since at least 2000, she explained.

The cafeteria was also decked with decorations crafted by the different classes. Students were each encouraged to invite a special guest – either a parent or grandparent, sibling, relative or family friend – to share in the feast.

"This way some of the people who don't often get to see get to enjoy their children, their artwork," explained Kim Wickman, one of the meal's volunteers.

"It's just fun," said Susan Callbreath, another of the volunteers serving up meals. This was her third year helping with the dinner.

Before it became a feast, the event was a longstanding tradition at the school as a harvest festival for arts and crafts. Often it was a time when local children would prepare decorations for the town's Christmas tree.