PORT ANGELES — A 11-year Port Angeles tradition has ended.
The free Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Queen of Angels church will not occur this year because organizers were unable to find a coordinator, according to a long-time volunteer.
It was the largest Thanksgiving feast on the North Olympic Peninsula, and the only one offered in town on Thanksgiving Day. The Salvation Army hosts a public feast but it is the day before Thanksgiving.
The closest free community dinner on Thanksgiving Day will be at 4 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., in Sequim. Reservations are required to ensure enough food is prepared.
“Basically, we didn’t have anybody to take charge of it,” said Phyllis Hopfner, who has volunteered at the free community dinner since it was begun by Reath Ellefson in 2008.
“The couple that did it last year was not able to do it this year, and nobody stepped forward to do it.”
Ellefson coordinated the holiday dinner for 10 years after she was diagnosed with cancer. She asked Tim and Gwuinifer Carradine of Port Angeles to organize the dinner last year.
Tim Carradine could not be reached for comment Friday.
The dinner grew to providing warm clothing for those who needed it, gifts and visits from Santa Claus. It drew thousands over the years. The 2019 Community Thanksgiving Dinner was attended by between 1,500 and 2,000.
Officials with Queen of Angels church, which provided the space for the dinner but did not organize it, confirmed that the dinner isn’t happening this year but would make no other comment.
