Editor, The Herald:

Wow! What a great community event that several hundred local and regional residents enjoyed this past Thursday evening at the STEPS center! What a terrific way for residents of this community to share in the support of the several charities that members of the local Rotary Club have chosen as the recipients of their charitable donations for the current year.

What a great array of local and regional vendors, both professional chefs and singular home-cooking experts! We were delighted to see some new vendors this year who were serving us with their delicious food. We especially enjoyed the culinary surprises, such as having Jerry Stuart, owner of the Fourth Street Motor Company, serving his own private recipe of meat-balls with dark and spicy gravy (which prompted a question as to whether this particular gravy had perhaps come from used motor oil that was being recycled at his business… which Jerry assured us was not the case!) We also enjoyed the disc-jockey music that added so much delight at this festive occasion.

The spacious STEPS facility was ideal for this large number of milling-around participants, who kept on and on enjoying one other's company! This entire occasion illustrated another one of those great advantages and blessings of living here in Small Town America, where – in the words of the old Cheers television show's theme music, “everybody knows your name” – and sometimes some occasional private memories as well, which help to bind us together in one another's friendship and affection!

Congratulations and many thanks to all the members of the local Rotary Club! We can hardly wait for this same occasion next year!

William and Sally Thompson

Farmville