Archive: Around Town

The North Lansing Auxiliary Election Day Dinner and Supper is a tradition that spans well over a century.  This Tuesday hundreds of voters were served a dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy, squash, beet salad, cabbage salad, and sweetbreads.  For supper they got all that plus ham.  And, of course, pie.  Volunteers served 516 meals Tuesday, quite a good number for an off-year election.

"We have fed up to 900 people in one day," says organizer Irene Tyrrell.  "That was back when John F. Kennedy was running.  This year is an off-year election.  We had over two hundred for dinner today, which is a good number."

In fact, 207 people showed up for dinner, and 309 came for supper.  That's a lot of meals, and it meant a bustling kitchen all day with a short lull after dinner in the big meeting room filled with long tables.

If you are used to lunch and dinner for your afternoon and evening meals you may find the name of the event confusing, but Tyrrell notes that it has always been this way: on Election Day dinner is served at lunchtime, and supper in the evening.

"One year they wanted to change it to a lunch," she says.  "We had so many people get irate because it's been a tradition.  It's been dinner and supper for as long as I can remember.  We haven't gone high tech and said it's dinner tonight.  No, it's supper.  Dinner is at noon.  This has been a tradition for many, many years.  Supper is at night."


Tyrrell started working at the event 73 years ago, when her mother brought her and her sister to the North Lansing grange hall to help out.  She was nine years old.  Two of her children, Gary and Connie, help to man the kitchen every year, and Tyrrell hopes some of her grandchildren will get involved in the future.

The grange hall that traditionally hosted the dinner and supper closed 50 years ago.  That building was finally demolished a few years ago, one of many Lansing buildings that have disappeared over the years.  But the Election Day tradition continued at Fire Station #4 after the original venue closed.

"It started out in the grange hall," Tyrrell says.  "My grandmothers were part of it then.  After the grange was done with the Auxiliary picked up the pieces and we've done it for over 50 years.  I never get tired of it because I love all the people and we have a wonderful time."


Preparations started Sunday.  Around 15 volunteers showed up at the fire station Monday to prepare, and 15 waitresses, eight coffee pourers, and around ten people manning the kitchen.  Tyrrell showed up to vote Tuesday morning at 8am, knowing there wouldn't be time later in the day.  Many volunteers, including Tyrrell, made pies.  More than 50 were served at lunch time and by mid-afternoon volunteers were anticipating more than 50 more would be gobbled down at supper. 



Auxiliary members send out about 600 letters each year asking for donations of cash or food.  The Tompkins County Board of Elections prints out addresses for Lansing Districts 2 and 8, the districts that vote in North Lansing.  Auxiliary members spend three nights assigning food items and asking for donations, and preparing the letters to be mailed.

"If they don't want to donate there are no hard feelings," Tyrrell says.  "It's just to let people know what we're all about.  And there are many, many people that will write back and say 'keep up the good work' and they send us anywhere from five dollars to 50 dollars because they know where the money goes."

All the money stays in the community, purchasing supplies for the fire station, providing scholarships, help for the Salvation Army, food pantries, Loaves and Fishes, bereavement dinners, and people in need.  Auxiliary members also volunteer to maintain the fire station, saving volunteer emergency responders the extra work.
"I can't say enough about the volunteers," she says.  "I've got some of the most wonderful volunteers.  Without the volunteers you have nothing."

The Auxiliary certainly has something -- a big something.  North Lansing voters plan their vote around mealtime, making elections a satisfying, stomach-filling event.  Others cast their ballot in other locations, then drive up for the meal.  While the election meals are not the only events they hold at Station 4 during the year, it is certainly the most popular.  Whether your candidates win or lose, the Dinner and Supper certainly make voting a lot more satisfying.

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