Once again, Durango transformed itself for what many residents say is their favorite holiday – Thanksgiving.

At Fort Lewis College, women and men, some seemingly decapitated by roasted-turkey hats and others sprouting turkey plumage from their buttocks, stampeded through campus as part of the annual Turkey Trot run.

In the morning, Main Avenue – usually bustling with winter commerce – was largely empty as most stores were closed Thursday.

But as seems to happen on holidays, business had merely migrated, with downtown Durango’s purveyors of legal drugs doing swift trade into the afternoon.

At 10 a.m., Starbucks Coffee Co. was jammed. Though the line was slow, customers seemed uncharacteristically calm. One man seeking a grande peppermint mocha paused to thank his barista for working on the holiday.

Wagon Wheel Liquors was similarly abuzz at 2 p.m., with patrons stocking up on anything that might lubricate long interactions with politically diverse family members.

In the parking lot, one woman who had an “Obama 2008” bumper sticker on her Honda said she’d purchased a six-pack of Ska Brewing Co. beer and a pack of Camel Lights.

She said she’d quit smoking 10 years ago, and her relapse would be short-lived and strategic.

“I’m going to dinner at my uncle’s house. I love him to death, but he’s a tea party, Ted-Cruz-nut-job Republican. So you know, don’t judge me,” she said, fumbling for her lighter.

Just before noon, last-minute shoppers were rampaging through north City Market’s vegetable aisles, hunting for green beans and asparagus.

At Albertsons, shoppers picked through dozens of enormous turkeys that looked like shrunken, barrel-chested lunatics ensconced in plastic straitjackets.

The feast

While grocery stores throughout La Plata County were packed with panicked Thanksgiving hosts and desperately unprepared guests, here, the bulk of hubbub was at the 28th annual Durango Community Thanksgiving Dinner at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.

This year’s organizer, first-timer Tonya Wales, said she expected about 900 people to attend, with about 300 people volunteering.

On top of serving 900 meals on site, Gordon Clouser – a dinner veteran and this year’s volunteer coordinator – said he was overseeing the distribution of at least 103 takeout meals for people who couldn’t physically journey to the fairgrounds.

He said before, the dinner – which more and more people have attended every year – had run out of various delicacies, including turkey, green beans and mashed potatoes.

But this year, the kitchen was better run than ever, he said, with Kassidy’s Kitchen’s Keith “Kassidy” Byington taking over as chief chef.

As hundreds of people formed a serpentine line for bread, meat, gravy and vegetables, Byington said he’d been looking forward to this day for four months.

“I was hoping with this meal to show just one person what a wonderful community Durango is – but I think it’s going to show 900,” he said.

Indeed, in a town that congratulates itself on its environmentalism, rugged outdoorsy culture and expert beer-brewing, many diners and volunteers said it was Durango’s community dinner that made them proudest to live here.

“This is the best thing we do, and I’m most thankful to this town,” said Clouser.

Thanks, and no thanks

From the early colonists’ genocide of Native Americans to Black Friday shopping at Walmart, life has a way of intruding on even the most beautiful Thanksgiving sentiments.

Though the smell of Thanksgiving gratitude unmistakably wafted through the fairgrounds, overwhelming the aromas of apples, cinnamon, fresh bread and turkey – it did not blunt the human condition – nor its peculiar joys and sorrows – which, despite Thanksgiving’s exquisite inspiration, and the community’s best efforts, remained as acute as ever.

At one table, Kay Moncrief of Georgia, and Cheryl Morris of Denver, flight attendants on a layover in Durango, were sitting next to Durango resident Brigitte Wahl.

As many people interviewed for this story, Moncrief said she wasn’t grateful for parking tickets, having gotten one the previous day. But she said she was grateful to her coworker Morris for joining her at the feast.

“This dinner is wonderful,” she said. “It’s what I’m grateful for.”

Morris agreed the dinner was remarkable. “I thought we’d just be sitting in a hotel room, with no Thanksgiving food. This is so much better,” she said.

When their new friend Wahl, who wore a beautiful scarf on her head, was asked to name something she is not grateful for, Wahl simply said, “Cancer.”

But Wahl said she was grateful for chemotherapy, as she forked a piece of moist, gravy-soaked turkey.

“It’s not so much that chemo takes away your appetite, but the taste in your mouth – you become anorexic. But I’ve lost 35 pounds since starting the chemo, and I’m grateful for that,” she said.

“And I’m grateful for this community dinner, and all the people who work it, for the great food, and that our country is still free,” she said.

At the bread station, volunteer Eileen Hegner was presiding. Hegner was visiting from Maryland, and her daughter, who lives in Durango, had volunteered her for the community dinner.

Though Hegner, too, said she didn’t feel grateful for parking tickets, while acknowledging she “often deserved them,” she said she was least grateful for the “aches and pains that come with age.”

But this year, Hegner said she was most grateful for family, “and this beautiful country, to Americans for their good, loving, giving spirit,” she said.

Amid the messiness inherent to life, the dinner embodied John F. Kennedy’s highest hope for Thanksgiving: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

cmcallister@durangoherald.com

Who donated

Thanksgiving Community Dinner organizer Tonya Wales said the dinner wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of local businesses.

Mercy Regional Medical Center bought 40 turkeys, which were cooked by The Palace, Kassidy’s Kitchen, Mercy volunteers, Serious Texas Bar-B-Q and the La Plata County Jail.

First United Methodist Church and Sacred Heart prepared the green beans.

St. Mark’s and Christ the King churches whipped up dressings.

Bread and Jean-Pierre Bakery baked the bread.

St. Columba mashed the potatoes.

CJ’s Diner contributed essential kitchen items, while Sodexho and Fort Lewis College provided paper products, utensils and cups.

Southwest Ice brought the ice.

McDonalds gifted the dinner with orange drink.

Coffee came courtesy of Durango Joe’s and Desert Sun Coffee.

Building Specialists stored and transported everything.

Peak Energy put $500 on a City Market gift card for the event.

April’s Garden supplied the table settings.