A "Gratefull" Week Begins With Downtown Celebration
Monday, November 21st, 2022
There is a lot of be thankful for in Dalton. On Monday afternoon, people from all walks of life came together to celebrate the start of a week of Thanksgiving at "Gratefull" - the second annual community celebration in downtown Dalton.
"Gratefull" is a free Thanksgiving meal served at a long table set up in the middle of Hamilton Street next to Burr Park. The concept is summed up by the event's slogan, "come as strangers, eat as family." With one long table for the entire community, the hope is that families will make new friends and new connections with people they might not have otherwise crossed paths with. Organizers from Believe Greater Dalton and the Chamber of Commerce first hosted the event in 2019 with the vision of it becoming an annual event, but COVID-19 forced the cancelation of the event in 2020 and 2021. Juding from the turnout Monday, that delay did nothing to dampen Dalton's enthusiasm for the event. Organizers estimate that more than 1,700 people were served a Thanksgiving lunch, more than the 1,400 who attended the inaugural event.
Caption: People from all across Dalton came together Monday to eat a Thanksgiving lunch at a table in the middle of Hamilton Street near Burr Park downtown
"I’ve been waiting for this – and I’m getting emotional now – for weeks," said State Senator Chuck Payne who volunteered at the event, collecting used plates and helping to keep the table cleared for people to find a place to eat. "I mean, look at that table, there's a CEO and his family sitting across from someone who walked over from the homeless mission. But they’re equal because they’re sitting at this one table together and breaking bread together. That’s – it’s a melting pot of what makes Dalton great and the melting pot that made this nation the greatest nation upon the earth."
The serving line was kept moving by a large group of volunteers, but it stretched back past the Wink Theater on Crawford Street at times. Those waiting for their meals were entertained by music played a grand piano set up in the street. Games of disc golf and cornhole were set up in Burr Park, and there was also a "Gratefull Wall" with sidewalk chalk for those in attendance to draw and write the things they're grateful for this year on the wall next to the Gordon Street bridge.
"I think for this year it’s more about the simplicity," said Mario Miller, the pastor of a local church who attended Monday's lunch. "Where there’s so much complexity within our life itself and everything that’s going on all throughout our world, this is simple. And the simplicity of this is just so amazing, seeing people come together for one purpose and that is: togetherness."
Caption: Mario Miller attended Monday's "Gratefull" celebration
"I believe that relationships are going to be established here, I believe connections are going to be made here, and even if none of that is done I believe that people are going to leave out of here with a sense of goodness for humanity," Miller said.
"The whole purpose is just to celebrate community and diversity and get to know someone that you might not know and celebrate all that we have to be grateful for," said Allyson Coker, the director of Believe Greater Dalton and the organizer of "Gratefull Dalton."
Among the many things people said they were grateful for Monday was just being able to come together again as a community. After the pandemic shutdown in 2020 and two years without "Gratefull" in downtown, organizers and attendees alike were happy to be able to have the event again.
"I don’t think any of us will ever take that for granted again. Just to be able to sit down and gather as people and to have that communion with one another, that brotherly love and that sisterly love across the table from one another," said Payne. "It’s inspiring to me."
"They had five different time slots for people to sign up for to volunteer, and I signed up for all five of them. That probably tells you right there what this means to me."
Caption: Chuck Payne volunteered at Monday's event
Food for the meal was donated by the Oakwood Cafe, The Farm, Honey Baked Ham, El Polle Allegre, Longhorn, Cyra’s , D Food Collab, Dos Bros, Buckin’ Burrito, Chick-Fil-A, Pablito’s , La Esperanza, Café Ostro, Peach Cobbler Factory, Gondolier's, Hamilton's, Crumbl Cookie, Danny’s Café, Antojo, Food City, Pepsi, Kiwani, and Cocina Tulum. Other sponsors for the event included Rock Bridge Community Church, Dalton Print Shop, Inflated, Barrett's, and Dalton Box. Alliant Health Plans sponsored entertainment for the event.
Click here to see more pictures from Monday's event on the City of Dalton's Facebook page.
