CRAIGEND - Those who came to the annual Craigend Harvest Dinner and Dance enjoyed an evening of socialization, live music and great food that included generous portions of delicious homemade perogies.
The event-which is hosted annually by the Craigend Recreation and Agricultural Society-took place at the Craigend Hall on Saturday, Nov. 30.
A traditional perogy meal started the evening, and was followed with a live performance from the country-rock band Southern Cross.
Molly Fyten of the Craigend Recreation and Agricultural Society said the annual dinner and dance is always popular and draws a good turnout, adding that the perogies which are prepared by volunteers are truly the highlight of the event.
“People really like our homemade perogies,” she told Lakeland This Week, adding that this year, organizers of the Craigend Harvest Dinner and Dance made an extra-large batch of perogies. Leftovers were donated to the 2024 Festival of Trees as well as an online auction hosted by the Lac La Biche Regional Humane Society.
“We make even more knowing that we’re going to donate them to a couple causes in the community,” she said.
The first Craigend Harvest Dinner and Dance, Fyten said, took place in 2016 and has been held annually since then save for a couple of years during COVID-19 pandemic, when the event was put off.
The dinner and dance, she explained, is the biggest annual fundraiser for the organization, adding that it brings in money each year to help cover expenses for the event and to cover operational costs of the community hall.
Furthermore, it only not brings the community together but is held at the end of the harvest season, which allows local agricultural producers to enjoy a night of fun and socialization.
It’s also a very unique happening for the local area.
“It’s kind of a rare event, you know, with a homemade perogy dinner and live music, it’s not something people get out here that often,” she said.
Gwen Beniuk was part of the group of community residents who worked to prepare the perogies for the dinner. Beniuk, who helps out with this task every year, said there is a process that goes into making these filled dumplings.
Volunteers cook the potatoes and then add cheddar cheese to them once they are cooked, she explained, after which they are then mashed in a big masher at the Craigend Hall. While this is going on, another community member makes the dough for the perogies out of flour, water, eggs and other ingredients.
“And then we have somebody roll the dough out, cut them into circles, and then we pinch them into perogies,” she said, adding that once this is done, the perogies are frozen.
Getting together with other members of the community to make the perogies for the Craigend Harvest Dinner and Dance, Beniuk continued, is social gathering that people look forward to every year.
“Everybody gets together and visits, and we make and then we serve them at dinner and everybody appreciates homemade perogies, and it’s just a good community thing to do,” she said.
