Cottam's Popular American Thanksgiving dinner cancelled

The popular American Thanksgiving church feast in Cottamhas been cancelled this year.

For more than 70 years, the Cottam United Church has hosted its community turkey dinner, which drew more than 1,200 people last year.

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Finding enough volunteers has been a challenge, considering the church would need at least 60 people to help. The dinner takes days to prepare.

Last year, the churchprepared 430 kilograms of turkey, 300 kilograms of potatoes and 300 home made pies.

Rosemary Roadhouse has been helping organizethe dinner for more than 20 years. She still struggles with the decision to cancel the dinner.

"I had many sleepless nights over this," Roadhouse said. "I'm still struggling with it."

The dinner started as a way to celebrate Thanksgiving with the American visitors who regularly drove through the area on theway to their cottages.

People came from places as far away as North Carolina and Florida, but the number of Americans has dwindled in recent years with the bulk of the guests coming from the county.