BRATTLEBORO — It's approaching noon in downtown Brattleboro on Thanksgiving Day, and all is quiet. Main Street is empty and the stores are closed as the town collectively catches its breath before the holiday season cranks up.
The River Garden, however, is the exception to the calm. There is plenty of activity, as volunteers carry in tables and trays of food for the 37th annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner.
More than 600 meals will be served today, and there is more than enough food to go around.
“We've got enough volunteers and we've got enough food,” said Ray Branagan, who has spent more than 30 Thanksgivings helping to coordinate what he calls the “organized chaos” of making dinner for 600 people.
Over at the St. Michael's School kitchen, volunteers prepare food, which is then shuttled to the River Garden. There, little signs tell diners going through the line exactly what's in the entree about to be served from the line of steam tables. Every possible dietary contingency is covered.
Volunteers old and new scurry about. Most have a common reason for being there - a desire to be with others on this day.
“I'm new to town, and I wanted to do this last year, but didn't know how to volunteer,” said Cheryl Miller, who is originally from Maryland. “My family is all over, and it's hard for us to get together.”
Jane McCauley agrees. She is also a first-time volunteer with family scattered all over the country. “This is a community affair I wanted to participate in,” she said.
Amy Cooper said she has been helping “on and off for about 20 years.” She and her father, Peter Cooper, have volunteered since the days when the dinner was served at the Common Ground.
A little after noon, the buffet line is ready, and the first diners have their plates loaded up with turkey and all the trimmings. The line is not long, and people flow steadily throughout the afternoon.
Older residents and shut-ins who can't make it to the River Garden are not forgotten. Branagan said more than 100 meals are being delivered this day.
While the meal is free to all, a donation jar sits at the edge of the buffet line for those who wish to give. Near the front door, boxes of bread and other food sit for those who need another meal beyond this one.
Fried turkey and football
Thanksgiving is a holiday for most people, but for police, firefighters and EMTs, it's just another shift to be covered.
At the fire station on Elliot Street, the Third Platoon has been assigned Thanksgiving duty. Holiday shifts are planned a year in advance, based on the one-day-on, two-days-off schedule that each of the three fire platoons work.
The firefighters in the Third, who have already worked on the Fourth of July and are also penciled in for Christmas and New Year's Eve, started their Thanksgiving day at 8 a.m., and will finish their shift the following morning at 8.
Capt. Bill Johnson, the duty officer, said the only call of the day so far was to St. Michael's School, where some burned food for the Community Dinner set off an alarm.
It's become a tradition at the Brattleboro firehouse to deep fry a turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner. But the kitchen at the firehouse is always busy.
“The guys take turns cooking breakfast every morning, and we always cook a big supper so the next shift can have the leftovers,” said Johnson.
Behind the station, they've already deep-fried a “blooming onion” ahead of the turkey, and some of the burned batter and onion bits are in a neat pile by the propane tank that fuels the burner where the kettle full of vegetable oil is bubbling.
The neighborhood pigeons, sensing a meal, start moving in. First a couple of brave ones, then a few more, then a few more, and before long 50 or so pigeons pick away at the onion debris - so many that when they are spooked and fly off, the wind gust generated by their wings blows out the gas burner.
Upstairs, the TV is tuned to the Thanksgiving game between the Lions and Patriots, and the firefighters hope that it will be a quiet afternoon so they can enjoy the two staples of this day - football and turkey.
A moveable feast
The Thanksgiving Day shift at Rescue Inc. on Canal Street didn't have to fight off pigeons for their holiday feast - it was brought to their door.
Sharra Bingham, wife of Rescue Inc. EMT Scott Bingham, decided if her husband wasn't going to be home for Thanksgiving dinner, she would bring Thanksgiving dinner to him and his co-workers.
“I would have been home alone anyway, so I brought it in,” she said. “It's good to bring food around on a day like this.”
It's an impressive spread - turkey with crab meat stuffing, plenty of mashed potatoes and gravy, and veggies, with three pies for dessert.
“The seven of us tried to put a hurt on it, but we couldn't do it,” said Drew Hazelton, the captain of the shift.
“At least it's been quiet, so we can eat without having to go out on a call,” Hazelton said. “We've had Thanksgivings where we've never had time to sit down for dinner.”
Day is done
Back at the River Garden, it's about 4:30 in the afternoon and darkness is coming fast. But the lights burn brightly inside, late-comers are still dining at the long tables, and another Thanksgiving is winding down.
This day, more than any other day, is a holiday for coming together around food and friendship.
And whether it is with friends, co-workers or family, the act of coming together is ultimately what gives Thanksgiving Day its meaning.