Terrace’s first-ever welcome dinner last month was an overwhelming success as new and old residents of all backgrounds came together to share food and dance.
On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 19, more than 130 people gathered at the Elks Hall for the official Welcome to Terrace Potluck Dinner hosted by the Skeena Diversity Society, Red Raven Art Gallery and Welcome to Terrace volunteers.
“This obviously shows that there is a need in the community for events like this,” says Sasa Loggin, project director of Skeena Diversity Society and one of the event organizers, referencing the high number of attendees.
“When people are moving here from across B.C., Canada and even the world, there are challenges when you’re new, so we just wanted to bring everybody together and we see that everyone has ideas for new projects or interests. Terrace is a small community and we want everybody to feel included.”
READ MORE: Skeena Voices | A heart of diversity
Loggin says the idea for the welcome dinner was first brought up almost three years in a conversation with Gemma’s owner Bruno Belanger and Red Raven Art Gallery owner Sylvia Hart, who agreed there should be a way to gather all the new people moving into Terrace.
Together, they started putting together “Welcome to Terrace” gift baskets filled with items donated by local Terrace businesses which were given out in a draw every month. Noticing a surge of newcomers in the past year, they finally decided to pool their resources and make the event happen.
It was then advertised through posters and posts on Facebook to encourage residents to claim free tickets. It wasn’t until 24 hours before the dinner that their guest list exploded and they had to print dozens of more tickets, Loggin says. Eventually, the event had to be capped to avoid surpassing the Elks Hall fire code.
With the helping hands of more than a dozen volunteers, guests were asked to bring a dish to help keep costs low and also to share homemade recipes that may tell their story of where they’re from. In the end, there was still plenty of leftover food — even as people came up for second and third servings.
“The idea behind this was also to send the message that in this community when you want something to happen, then we all have to chip in,” Loggin says. “We don’t have a giant budget to provide food for everyone but look at what a feast we had.”
READ MORE: Nisga’a Nation tourism board hits the road
Alongside the food were ice-breaker games to motivate people to talk and let loose. Hart, who regularly runs line dancing sessions in Terrace, volunteered to lead an impromptu dance class before dessert. One person from each table was asked to come up to the front to participate but as soon as the music started blaring, more people rushed to the dance floor in laughter to join in on the fun including children from two Syrian refugee families who were especially fond of the new dance routine.
“One thing that I love about this community is that everything is volunteer-based and the people that teach dance classes, for example, are volunteering and they’re all not professionals,” says Hart. “We just want to get the community involved in the day to day life here to make fun happen.”
At the dinner was Michael, who recently moved to Terrace from South Korea. Although he was still learning English, he had tears in his eyes as he tried to express his joy of being welcomed to a place he was initially nervous to call home.
“I feel very emotional right now, I enjoyed this very much,” he says.
“I feel very happy in my heart to be welcomed in.”
natalia@terracestandard.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
