DANVILLE — One of Knox County’s proudest – and tastiest – traditions will turn 80 years old next week.
The Danville Raccoon Dinner will celebrate eight decades of filling bellies and fostering community togetherness on Monday, Feb. 6. The 80th annual dinner will be held at St. Luke’s Community Center, located behind St. Luke’s Catholic Church at 307 N. Market St.
Meals of locally harvested raccoon, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, mixed vegetables and homemade cornbread will be served from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis. A limited amount of ham will also be available for those who want to attend, but cannot consume raccoon due to health reasons.
Danville Lions Club Treasurer Pat Crow called this year’s dinner special, considering the circumstances.
“Most things don’t last 80 years, including a lot of people,” Crow said. “I think it’s kind of a tribute to the community, to the village of Danville and the surrounding area, because it’s the people that make this thing happen every year, and it’s such a unique thing.
“There are areas that have game dinners and do this and that, but I think this has lasted 80 years because of the community’s motivation to make this thing happen every year.”
The Devil Land Jazz Band will perform for dinner attendees at 6 p.m. Monday, at the high school auditorium across the street. The Side Effects, an acoustic duo performing classic rock and country favorites, as well as Americana and blues music, will follow with a 7 p.m. performance.
Crow said the duo, consisting of Rick Keaton (guitar, vocals and harmonica) and Kevin Mishey (guitar and vocals), comes highly regarded regionally.
“Keaton is a veteran of rock and country bands in the central Ohio area, while Mishey has performed throughout Ohio in rock and blues bands since the 1960s,” Crow said in a press release. “The Side Effects regularly perform at various venues locally, as well as the greater north central Ohio region.”
Dinner attendees will have a chance to win a Pointer Acrius 12-gauge Over/Under Shotgun in this year’s gun raffle. The raffle drawing will take place at 7 p.m. in the auditorium, before the Side Effects take the stage. Tickets will be available at the Community Center door and at various locations in Danville.
Crow said $2,500 of the proceeds from this year’s dinner will go to Main, Market and Beyond, a community development organization dedicated to spearheading improvement projects in the heart of the village. Money from the dinner will be used to help fund the organization’s street-lighting project.
“I think there’s an awakening going on in our community, and several organizations have formed in the last couple years, beyond our normal groups, and Main, Market & Beyond is one of them. … There are groups forming around the betterment of the community,” Crow said.
“There’s a need to worry about economic development in order to perpetuate the community. Danville has been able to maintain its school system, and a lot of smaller communities don’t have theirs anymore, they’ve consolidated. That’s another sign of Danville’s perpetual desire to keep things in the community.”
There are positive things happening in Danville, Crow said, including new businesses opening and projects beginning. Main, Market and Beyond is right in the middle of the action.
“Main, Market and Beyond is starting a street-lighting project – and they have other plans in their program, I’m not familiar with everything they’re doing – but I know they’re here to help perpetuate and promote business in our community. … Main, Market and Beyond, as far as I know, is headed in that direction,” Crow said.
“We decided to join the streetlight program (fund) and help them along with that this year, as part of the dinner proceeds.”
Those unable to attend this year’s dinner can mail donations to the Danville Lions Club, PO box 506, Danville, OH 43014. All donations marked “Danville Community Street Lighting Improvement Project” will go toward the cause.
This, Crow believes, is the most important element of the dinner. The fundraising tradition that goes along with it. Crow believes it has helped keep the dinner going, providing the community with a sense of hope and togetherness.
“The single most important part of this is that the money raised (during the dinner) goes back into the community in some fashion. …” said Crow, who has worked the dinner in various roles over the last 42 years alongside his wife, Danville Lions Club President Sandy Crow.
“I think that helps perpetuate this tradition, because people know their contribution is not only (meaningful), but also that it contributes to the Danville community or some individual or group of people that are doing good things here.”
Last year’s dinner raised $4,000 for the family of Dalton Sheldon, a 2011 Danville graduate who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident in 2019 and was still in the throes of recovery.
“We then went to the district Lions convention and they took it on as a cause, because he needed more money than that. He needed about $10,000,” Crow said. “So we got to the floor of the convention, and I went up and talked about it, and in the next 15 minutes, we raised another $6,000, among all the Lions Clubs in the district.”
Through additional donations from the Danville Knights of Columbus and private individuals, the Danville Lions Club was able to raise over $10,500 total for the Sheldon family. The money helped fund Sheldon’s rehabilitation efforts and home improvements to accommodate his accessibility needs.
“We went to the district convention hoping to get a few more donations,” Crow said last week, still audibly stunned at the outcome.
And to think, it all started with a raccoon dinner.
“Helping people,” Crow said. “That’s what this is all about.”
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