This event is designed to bring the community together through sharing food and by supporting a local group with funds.”

Paula Volkmann

A fall harvest supper to raise money for community groups and organizations will take place around the downtown square in Fayette in October if all goes as planned. Paula Volkmann, the event’s organizer, presented the idea to the Fayette city council last week and asked for permission to close off three of the four streets surrounding the courthouse on Sunday, October 23. The harvest supper will run from 4 p.m. until around 7 p.m.

The first of which Volkmann hopes to be an annual event, the inaugural harvest supper will raise funds for the Fayette Band Boosters to purchase new instruments. The band and drum line will perform at the supper. Local groups and businesses are being sought to provide booths and games for children.

“This event is designed to bring the community together through sharing food and by supporting a local group with funds,” Volkmann wrote in a letter to potential sponsors.

Volkmann, who resides in Howard County and serves as the food director for the Fayette school district, said the idea sprang from a recent trip to Colorado. While in a small town there, she noticed photos of a similar event.

The goal is to have 100 tables with up to eight people per table wrapped around the square on Davis, Morrison, and Main streets. Church Street would remain open since it is a state highway. The event is planned for a Sunday so as not to interfere with downtown businesses.

“My goal is to raise $160 per table, and that would give that organization $16,000,” she said.

Every table, she explained, will have a table host. The host would provide the table and chairs along with a table cloth and table service for the potluck meal. The host would invite enough people to fill the table. Those at the table would be asked to each contribute donations as hats are passed around the tables. If each person at a full table for eight contributes $20, the table would raise $160. 

“It would be just like my kitchen table at home. I would bring my table cloth, table service, everything. And I would provide the food for my table,” Volkmann said. Alcohol would probably not be allowed, she said, in an effort to keep down the cost of insurance. 

Volkmann is planning to make arrangements for the supper to be moved indoors in the event of rain.

Expenses such as event insurance, portable bathrooms, and trash collection would be paid for by the benefitting organization.

“I think it would be a great way to have the community come together,” Volkmann said.

Council members displayed general exuberance in favor of the festival and voted unanimously to close off the streets for the supper. Streets will be closed starting at 2 p.m. the day of the harvest supper.

Volkmann is forming a committee to plan the harvest supper. She is seeking tables, chairs, and labor from anyone willing to help.

For questions or to sign up as a table host, contact Volkmann by phone at (660) 888-8724 or by email at pgvolkmann@gmail.com.