A Twenty-Year Tradition Of Pasta And Java

By Nancy K. Crevier

As the Newtown United Methodist Church First Saturday Pasta Dinner event begins its 20th year, Martha Millet is just as enthusiastic as she was in March 1989 when, as a trustee, she said she would host a pasta dinner to help raise funds to cover the costs incurred building the church’s gathering place, Wesley Hall.

“I was single then, and never did I think it would be so big,” recalled Ms Millet. “I thought it would be a short-term solution to funding this project,” she said.

A music teacher in the Southbury school system at the time, Ms Millet lived in Newtown. She had worked in restaurants part-time and liked it, so she did know enough about kitchen management to pull off serving more than 80 spaghetti dinners that first month. The word spread that the Methodist Church was the place to go for a good spaghetti dinner, and over the years, the number of meals served gradually increased.

“Our goal was to serve 200 meals,” she said, “and we started out promising that the 200th diner would get a free meal. Since then, we have always given away a free dinner to the 200th person to buy a ticket and lately, to the 300th,” Ms Millet said. Ms Millet and her co-chairperson, Diane Rockwell, as well as the more than 60 volunteers that provide support, have served as many as 384 dinners in one evening, a number that Ms Millet said is the most she cares to see.

“Everyone doesn’t get the comfortable experience that we want for them when the numbers get too high,” she explained.

It is the experience and the quality of the meal that are important to those who work the monthly dinner, said Ms Millet. “I want our dinner to be a customized thing, not something you would get at any restaurant,” she said. That means that the sauce, meatballs, salads, and garlic bread are all crafted by the teams of cooks and prep people.

“We have been very fortunate that member Kim Kotch and her husband, who own Mikey’s Place in Southbury, have donated our marinara sauce for most of the years we have been doing this,” said Ms Millet. The kitchen staff adds its own seasoned meats and spices to the base sauce, though, plus the now-revealed secret ingredient that sets it off from run of the mill sauces. “Our secret is grated carrots,” confessed Ms Millet. “Carrots cut the acidity of the tomatoes without adding any sugar.”

300  Meatballs

A regular team gathers each Thursday prior to the first Saturday, as well, to turn 35 pounds of Omaha ground beef into nearly 300 fist-sized meatballs, which will sell for an additional 50 cents each with dinner.

Another crew washes and chops 24 heads of lettuce, four heads each of broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, plus eight pounds of tomatoes for the salad that is served with a choice of four dressings, all made by Ms Millet. “It’s the nicest salad you could get served anyplace,” she declared.

Fruit salad starts with a selection of jarred fruits, but is supplemented by fresh apples, pears, and grapes. The 40 loaves of French bread are sliced and spread with their own fresh garlic and butter mixture, too. All of it is done with careful consideration and attention to serving a quality meal, explained Ms Millet.

“Everybody that works on the dinners is gathered for a purpose and it makes for a beautiful side benefit to belonging to the church,” she said. “People come willingly to join in the camaraderie.”

The majority of the desserts are specialties prepared by other church members. “One woman has been making delicious apple pies for us every single year, and another one makes these exquisite cakes frosted with a real cream frosting, and still another makes this lemon soufflé that is to die for. It’s a wonderful assortment that people bring,” Ms Millet said, and the desserts are a wonderful accompaniment to the 900 cups of coffee that they will make throughout the evening.

The process has become streamlined over the two decades, so that there are few surprises outside of the occasional missing pots and pans. Nonetheless, it is a lesson in organization and dedication coordinated by Ms Millet each month.

By midweek prior to the first Saturday, she is busy ordering the dry goods, canned goods, meats, and some of the fresh vegetables that will be delivered to Wesley Hall on Thursday, and making sure the crews are staffed and that they have the equipment they need to do their jobs. On Friday morning, a volunteer picks up the more fragile greens for the salads and brings them in to be washed and chopped.

It takes several crews, beginning at 8 am on Saturday morning when 80 pounds of spaghetti is precooked and held to be warmed that evening, to prepare for the arrival of the first diners at 5 pm.

It is generally Diane Rockwell, said Ms Millet, who spends the bulk of Saturday morning cooking the meat for the sauce, and stirring the 20 gallons of bubbling sauce regularly, to prevent a nasty bottom crust from forming and ruining the flavor of the sauce.

Still more crews set up tables and chairs, toss the salad, set up the serving tables, heat the breads, prepare the dessert bar, and get the coffee brewing.

At 4:30 another volunteer arrives to deliver the takeout meals to shut-ins. It is extra work for the whole staff, but one that they know is greatly appreciated by those who cannot make it out to the church hall.

“It’s phenomenal in terms of what needs to be done to prepare, set up, and then to clean up and put away and make it all nice for Sunday morning,” said Ms Millet. “I give a lot of credit to the staff, and I hope everyone appreciates them as much as I do. I would look pretty silly sitting there by myself,” she said.

The recipe for a successful pasta dinner has remained virtually the same for the entire 20 years. The variety of sauces has changed — “There was great strife initially over whether the sauce should be mild or hot, but Rich Rauner took a poll at the door as to preference and when it came back 50/50, we started offering both. Then we got a number of people who said, ‘Don’t forget the vegetarians,’ so we added a meatless sauce,” Ms Millet said — but the supporting menu of fruit cup, salad, garlic bread, desserts, and a drink is the same menu offered since day one.

The Reverend Mel Kawakami has been minister at the United Methodist only since July 2008, and experienced his first spaghetti dinner event in September. “I had no idea how huge this thing was. Stepping into a room with 300 other people was incredible,” he said. “What is staggering about this is that it’s beyond a scale I am familiar with. To think they serve 300 people in one night, ten months out of the year, is amazing,” he said.

The event is a well-oiled machine thanks to the efforts of Ms Millet and her support staff, said Rev Kawakami. “Martha serves this number of people each month without batting an eye. Plus we have all of the wonderful volunteers who help with everything,” he said.

The success of the pasta dinners is in knowing that it serves as a source of fellowship and community and music, said Rev Kawakami. “It really is a focal point for community, and I know that there are people who wait for it every month,” he said.

And Then There’s The Coffeehouse

There are two main reasons that Ms Millet believes the monthly pasta party has remained popular with the public. One is the sense of fellowship and community that it instills in the dinner crews, the church members, and the regulars who look forward to the dinners. The other reason, she said, is the coffeehouse that follows the meal.

“The coffeehouse has gotten to be a big draw. It has helped the popularity of the event. It has brought in people who wouldn’t come just for the dinner, or who might not come just for the coffeehouse. It’s a complementary duet that has worked to the benefit of the church,” Ms Millet said.

Award-winning banjo picker Roger Sprung has been the headliner at the coffeehouse every first Saturday for the past 11 years. He is joined by several of his students and many of his contemporaries from all over the region to provide a relaxing and revitalizing postdinner experience.

The core group is made up of Mr Sprung, Hal Wylie on guitar and vocals, and Richie Hawthorne on bass fiddle, but the evening is a jam session orchestrated by Mr Sprung. “It’s for everybody,” said Mr Sprung. “Mainly it’s a blend of folk, Irish, country, and bluegrass music, but we have had a 70-plus-year-old tap dancer who brought down the house, too,” he said. Many times the band is joined by Ray Onidi — one of the finest country singers Mr Sprung has come across — and mandolin player Erik Fucht.

“Most of the people, once they come, they come back,” said Mr Sprung. “It’s a round-robin, open mike style. We try and get everybody a chance on the mike but everybody plays.”

Up to 20 musicians an evening entertain a respectful listening audience, whom Mr Sprung noted are always appreciative of the musicians’ skills.

“I love it,” said Mr Sprung. “It keeps my fingers going, there are jobs to be gained, but mainly, it’s fun. When I ask how many have been here before, most hands go up. But there always seem to be around 15 new people in the audience. We have a good time,” he said.

Along the way, Martin Millet came into her life, said Ms Millet. “Finding a man who would jump on the band wagon was not something I ever expected, but Marty did,” she said. “He is a lot more social than I have time to be. He’s been the one to ‘work the crowd’ and he does a lot of the behind the scenes stuff to make this happen,” said Ms Millet, including doing the sound for the coffeehouse.

Wesley Hall has long been paid off and the income generated by the pasta dinners now goes toward replenishing and building up the church’s endowment fund.

“We’ve seen a lot of people come and go over 20 years,” she mused, and wondered how much longer she and Martin would head the event. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of lifting and moving stuff… I like to think someone else is getting ready to do this.”

It is the unity and the outreach that remains the driving force for her, though, in the meantime. “You look at all of the people who come. We get a lot of elderly people, and we get a lot of middle-aged people who bring their grown children and their grandchildren,” she said. “It’s one of those events that will be looked back at by people as, ‘Remember when….’ It’s really special.”

The Newtown United Methodist Church First Saturday Pasta Dinner is served every first Saturday of the month, September through June, from 5  to 7:30 pm, in the basement of Wesley Hall off of Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook.

Dinner includes the fruit cup, salad, pasta with a choice of sauce, garlic bread, and homemade desserts, as well as a beverage. Dinner for adults is $9; for senior citizens, $8; and for children, $3.50. Tickets are purchased at the door, and meatballs can be purchased then for an additional 50 cents per meatball.

The coffeehouse begins at 7:45 pm. Suggested entry fee is $4 with dinner, or $5 without dinner. Coffee and beverages are included.

The public is welcomed to join in an evening of fellowship and community spirit.

For more information call 426-9998.