Waterfront Café keeps free Thanksgiving Day dinner on menu

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed much in a few months, making it necessary for long-standing local traditions to adjust.

The free community Thanksgiving Dinner at the Waterfront Café is among those that have altered a winning recipe just enough to remain a big part of the flavor of La Conner.

This year’s feast, set for 12-3 p.m. Nov 26, is limited to four dining tables serving a maximum of six people each to meet capacity restrictions. Take-out orders will literally be an order of the day.

Reservations are now a must for the benefit event, which usually serves over 100 diners and collects donations for the La Conner Sunrise Food Bank and various other causes, including animal shelters.

“Normally,” said Waterfront Café chef Dagmar Dick, who looks forward each year to preparing the Thanksgiving meal, “the dining room is filled with people and everybody is seated close to one another. But we can’t do that this year.”

She is asking those who plan dining at the café on Thanksgiving to contact staff beforehand.

“It will be nice,” she said, “if people can call in a couple days early to let us know.”

Chef Dagmar will be helped by café staff and a loyal corps of volunteers, including local firefighters.

Members of La Conner Hook & Ladder will deliver Thanksgiving meals during the afternoon, said Jaime Stroebel-Reinstra, whose husband, Aaron, is the department’s chief. Prior Waterfront Café Thanksgiving meal proceeds helped defray costs related to the successful fight against leukemia waged by the couple’s older daughter Ashlyn.

“My daughters and I always volunteer to help on Thanksgiving,” Stroebel-Reinstra said, “because the owners have been so kind and generous to our family (dating to) when Ashlyn was sick.”

That generosity is extended to the community at large.

“Their benevolence,” Mayor Ramon Hayes said of the Waterfront Café ownership and staff, “is amazing.”

Chef Dagmar is planning a traditional turkey dinner with the fixings.

“And, of course, cranberries,” she says with her trademark smile, apparent even through a protective mask.

Dessert will again be provided by Town Councilmember Bill Stokes, a role he has filled since Waterfront Café co-owner Guy Vallee launched the first community Thanksgiving Dinner in 2009.

“Every year as we get closer to Thanksgiving,” said Dagmar, “Bill pops in and lets me know he’ll be doing the pies again.”

This year, despite COVID-19, will be no exception.

“For more than 10 years, Bill’s early morning pie-baking has been a Thanksgiving tradition in our house,” said Stokes’ wife, Sandy, formerly the editor and publisher of La Conner Weekly News. “He gets up at 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and makes anywhere from six to eight pies for the Waterfront Café.”