Every year, the City of West Concord hosts its “Christmas in West Concord” event, offering residents and visitors the chance to enjoy holiday cheer. As part of that tradition, the West Concord EDA provides a free community meal at the United Methodist Church building downtown.
CEDA team member Zach Bubany said the EDA served 200 meals this year, with catering for the event done by Omar’s Cafe, a popular locally owned eatery, while a local cottage food business provided desserts. Bubany helped coordinate the event while EDA board members, along with the EDA president and city administrator, helped serve the meal, and meals were delivered to elderly and persons with disabilities.
“Christmas in West Concord is a big event for the city-with a population of 850, we get 300 to 400 people at the event,” Bubany said. “In a rural area, it’s very visible.”
Other events included in the lineup are a community church service, which usually takes place just before the EDA dinner, and social opportunities at the local VFW Hall and fire hall.
The EDA budgets for the dinner each year and has sometimes purchased and cooked food for the event itself, but this year the board wanted to partner with a local business to offer food for the community to enjoy.
“It’s an event where everyone’s welcome, and we have people who are friends and family of community members who come from other towns in the area,” Bubany said.
As usual, the dinner was a smashing success. Bubany said that the line formed quickly after the church service, with 200 meals flying into the hands of hungry attendees within an hour.
“Everything was gone quickly, so next year, it’ll be a conversation about whether we put more in our budget for next year, so we can do more meals,” Bubany said. “I really want to applaud everyone involved, because while I did the legwork on this, it was the mayor and EDA president, Dan Rabe, who led it that day.”.
