The turkey alone, and it’s only an estimate, came to 11,500 pounds.

That’s 5.5 tons of turkey.

No wonder he gave up and just added a note at the bottom of the list.

“5,000,000 pounds of love and best wishes to the Fort Dodge Community,” he wrote.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Erin Brookshire, director of the Dodge Academy after school program, looks over some of the placemats her students colored that will be used in the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota with Matt Johnson, general manager.

The annual tradition began after Thanksgiving one year at dealership owners Deb and Casey Johnson’s home.

“Eleven or 12 of us where just sitting around,” Casey Johnson said. “We said there must be something we can do different. A light clicked. Lets serve Thanksgiving in the showroom.”

“He said we can just put a few in the oven,” Deb Johnson said. “I looked at him and said have you lost your mind?”

The partnership with Iowa Central seemed a good fit. They had the kitchen space and student workforce. The Johnsons had the showroom.

“The first year we had about 300,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Viktoria Grochut, of Munich, Germany, stirs a roux that will be used in the gravy for the annual Community Thanksgiving at Fort Dodge Ford.

Even with themselves, the dealership staff and the students more help was needed.

It comes.

“Every year volunteers just magically show up,” Casey Johnson said. “It’s a combo – employees, customers, friends and complete strangers.”

Some of those volunteers have their regular jobs they like to do each year.

“We have some that go straight to the pies,” Deb Johnson said. “They go straight to the pies, they know what they’re doing.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
13 pans of bread and other ingredients wait for stock to be added in the kitchen at Iowa Central Community College before they will become part of the annual Community Thanksgiving at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota.

Roy and Anne Chase are two of their volunteers who’ve been there for the full decade.

“They’re going to be out again to volunteer,” Casey Johnson said.

They bring their family members along before they go home later in the day for their family gathering.

“They all work,” she said.

There’s a lot of work that goes on in the kitchen at Iowa Central, too.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
The Iowa Central Community College baking students have had a busy week too. Thousands of balls of dough have been rolled and will be baked into rolls for the Community Thanksgiving at Fort Dodge Ford Toyota.

“We started 10 days ago,” Hirst said. “We have about 12 students a day on the job.”

Everything that goes into the meal is made from scratch. Guests should not expect can rings in the cranberry sauce.

“Nothing is out of a can,” Hirst said. “We’ve baked a zillion pumpkins.”

Over the years, just the squash donated by the Mark Lynch family has added up to almost 2,000 pounds.

Hirst said that the annual dinner is also a learning experience for his students.

“We don’t do anything else this expansive,” he said. “It gives them an insight into production and large scale catering.”

Hirst had graphed the number of those attending and those figures took a leap up when the new kitchen came online. They are prepared for almost 2,000 this year.

Student Samantha Bovero, of Newell, was spending Tuesday cutting up turkey.

She was in third grade when the first Community Thanksgiving was held.

“I’m one of seven siblings,” she said. “We always had a big Thanksgiving. Nowhere near this scale though. This is way bigger than I thought it would be.”

She also helped last year although at the end of the day, she didn’t eat.

“After the last one I went home and didn’t eat,” she said.

The Johnson family and their crew have it down to a science.

“It takes them less than an hour and a half to get the showroom ready,” Casey Johnson said. “Out go the cars in come the tables and chairs.”

About half the meals served end up being either picked up or delivered by volunteers. They’ve even gotten calls from travelers who get a meal delivered to their hotel lobby. They already had 600 on the delivery list Tuesday.

They want the public to know, the meal is for everyone.

“We don’t turn anybody down,” he said.

The years have not been without their fun memories. One year, they ran out of turkey. When Hirst was informed of this, he had a nice British answer for Deb Johnson.

“He said, ‘Love, I don’t have a magic porridge pot,” she remembered. “We went to HyVee and bought every bird they had.”

Matt Johnson, general manager at the dealership, has been involved with the dinner every year they’ve had it.

His wife Abigail, and their daughter, Isabella, join in to help too.

This year, “Bella” has a very important job.

“She’ll probably be at the door saying ‘Nigh People,” he said. “Then she’s offended if people don’t answer.”

While the students volunteer their labor, the Johnson’s help them out with an annual donation that is used to send a group of students to the National Restaurant Association Convention in Chicago.

That’s paid forward.

“That trip has changed the lives of 20 to 30 of our students that have actually ended up working there,” Hirst said.

A new van, to allow the Culinary Arts Program to make deliveries, was also donated to Iowa Central.

The Community Thanksgiving Dinner starts at 11:30 a.m. and goes until 1:30 p.m. at Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota. The dealership is located at 2723 Fifth Ave. S.

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