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Community Corner

Creche Luncheons Truly a Community Affair

With help from all over Geneva, the eighth annual Creche Luncheons on Thursday and Saturday reflect a wide level of community involvement, for a community treasure.

The upcoming eighth annual Geneva History Center Creche Luncheons (Thursday and Saturday, and both sold out) are truly a community affair. Not only do the luncheons take place at the center and museum at 113 S. Third St., they also benefit a community treasure (the 18th century Neapolitan creche that used to grace and which the center acquired in 1990), feature community celebrity servers and feature table decorations by members of the community.

They are sponsored by a Geneva service organization, the Geneva Rotary Club. And Geneva High School culinary students are cooking the food! This is perhaps the third year the center has utilized student talent, said Executive Director Terry Emma. “We think it’s a little more fun to partner with the schools,” she explained. “And I think they enjoy being able to use their talents.” 

Last year there were so many raves over the entree and requests for the recipe, that workers quickly made copies and distributed them before the luncheon was over. This year, Emma is planning ahead: The recipe for Chicken Siciliana is printed right in the program.  

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It’s too late for reservations to the luncheons this year, as the two seatings have been sold out for about a week. But the crcehe itself can be oohed and aaahed over at the center through Dec. 29. 

Also part of the luncheon are tables decorated by members of the community. Each of the eight tables has a different decorator(s) and a different theme. “They bring in their own china, crystal, silver and centerpiece. Some use a Christmas theme, some do something totally different,” Emma said. And the tables probably get as many raves as the food and the creche. 

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As always, the luncheons are a fund-raiser for the center, and its efforts to restore the creche, displayed as early as 1930 at the . The creche features more than 40 hand-crafted figures, including the Holy Family, angels, shepherds and villagers, displayed in a 17th century French Provincial corner bed. Emma said each figure has now been restored and that the clothing, and the grotto itself, will be the next big-ticket items. 

The culinary students, supervised by teacher Kathy Jankovic, include Robert Borsellino, Olivia Block, Drew Dubsky, Ashley Dudman, Mikey Jessen, Janey Jordon, Sarah Kolcz, Danny Kosar, Alex Puff, Maddie Starr, Jack Wilbur and Ryan Willing, for Thursday; and, for Saturday, Matt Abern, Drew Dubsky, Ashley Dudman, Ben Herrera, Kristoffer Larsen, Alex Puff, Eric Slade, Emma Weaver and Jack Wilbur.

The “celebrity” servers include:

Thursday: Alderman Chuck Brown; board members Brian Carroll, Weldon Johnson, Clyde Jones and Steve Persinger; former board members Joe Cannizzaro, Art Kaindl, Jeff Krug and Warren Rasmussen; board treasurer Bob Swanson and Fire Chief Steve Olson (editor’s note: the writer’s husband).

Saturday: Aldermen Chuck Brown, Sam Hill and Dean Kilburg; Al Hiller, center board member Clyde Jones; Steve Lillie; volunteers Ron Maier, Al Ochsner and Bill Park; Rick Nagel of Geneva Patch; Police Chief Steve Mexin and board Vice President Mike Simon.

Dressing the tables are:

Thursday: Valerie Axen and Juliene Guffey, Nancy Cantwell, Glorianne Campbell and Margie Walkington, Mary Jaeger, Sherry O’Berry, Jane Ramsey and Carol Mills, Patti Rambo, and Emily Rogers.

Saturday: Margo Burkhardt and Bridget Kadolph, Ann and Pat Cesarone, Ellsworth and Karen Evenson, Lynn Landberg, Alexia Monaco and Jay Green, Kelly Nowak, Cathy Rex and Merritt King, and Judy Sorden and Jenny Angell.

Want to know about the creche? Visit the History Center's newly redesigned website, www.genevahistorycenter.org, and click on the “Geneva History Minute,” at the bottom left of the front page. 

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