Pansy Hall kicks off fall supper season thanks to hard-working volunteers

It’s time to loosen your belt and find your most comfortable pants, it’s time for fall suppers, beginning with the Pansy Hall fall supper taking place this Sunday afternoon.

Leanne Germain, President of the Pansy Hall says it's all because of their amazing hard-working volunteers. She says preparing for the event takes a community effort. This past week there have been 6 core volunteers working in the kitchen at the Pansy Hall, she notes sometimes putting in 18-hour days. And on the day of the Fall Supper she says,

“We usually have at least 30 volunteers and I have to say like a big shout-out to our volunteers. They are the nicest group of people from family and friends and neighbors from the surrounding area that come and help us with this huge event. We want to host people and like we say in Pansy, "We're Hostess with the mostest." Right? Like, we want everybody to have a good experience and we want people to come back annually.” 

Germain tells us that their fall supper is a major event in the southeast.

“We draw crowds from all over Canada. We are expecting to see crowds between 1,000 to 1,500 people attend. So, the support that we see in this area is unbelievable for this little community hall.” 

Germain notes in the past their menu has definitely been a big draw.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind menu, because of the variety of dishes that we present in our Ukrainian Smorgasbord. So, not only the fall-supper basics, but we also feature a lot of traditional Ukrainian dishes that everybody wants to try and that everybody keeps coming back for.”

She lists more than 20 menu items from mashed potatoes to meatballs, chicken, cabbage rolls and vegetables, and continuing on to dessert with trifle and pumpkin pie. Germain describes one of their Ukrainian desserts, Pampushky.

“It's a doughnut filled with either a poppy seed or a prune filling. So, we'll have those, along with assorted goodies as well.”

Germain says the fall supper will be open to the public from 3pm to 6pm, but they have several large group-bookings coming in earlier in the day.

“We usually have several bus tours that come from Winnipeg, a lot of seniors' groups love coming here. Then once the bus tours leave, the parking lot opens up again. And, yeah, sometimes people have to walk a little ways down the Pansy Road, but we try and get people in and out as soon as possible, that's our goal.”

With that amount of people coming through the hall, they are anticipating raising a large amount of money. Germain explains where those funds will go.

“This is our major fundraiser of the year, and this again it will go to our hall maintenance. We have a project going on right now to replace the insulation around the outside of our hall. So, you know those are huge costs, but we want to keep this hall going, as it's an older hall. But every year there's things that need replacing and we’ll need to heat the place in winter. So, it just goes back to the hall to keep us functioning here.”

Germain is grateful for all the food donations for Sunday’s fall supper. Local gardeners have dropped off pickles, beets, peppers and carrots.

“We take pride in the food that we put on our tables, it’s all homemade. When people ask, “What kind of people put on this kind of spread?” I say, we're a few, but we are a mighty group of volunteers here that put out a good meal for everybody to come and enjoy.”

Visitors from across Manitoba visit the Pansy Hall and enjoy their fall supper

The Pansy Hall fall supper takes place on Sunday, September 10 from 3pm to 6pm. Adults are $22, children ages 7 to 13 $10 and children 6yrs and under are free.

There are no pre-sale tickets, just first come – first served and you are asked to bring cash.

Germain invites everyone to their fall supper.

“We look forward to hosting this event and we look forward to seeing all those familiar faces and as well if you can bring a car full of new faces. We'd love to see them as well.” 

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