Seniors meet for Saturday Night Alive festivities

Sisters' 55-and-older set came together for a meal like never before a week ago Saturday night. A four-course "Krazy Dinner" followed by a crazy style show provided an evening of good old-fashioned fun and laughter for Sisters Saturday Night Alive group.

The affair attracted more than 70 seniors to Sisters Community Church. Participants were given a menu offering some 30 choices and asked to select four items for each course. As menu offerings were catchy, play-on-words phrases, no one knew exactly what he or she was ordering.

"They had nothing on the table, no silverware - nothing. They had to figure out from the menu what the items were they wanted to order," said Thelma Blok, the event's organizer.

The fork was called "devil's tool." "If they didn't put that down, they didn't get that for the first course, and they may have had salad or beans or something that they ate, but they didn't necessarily get their silverware," Blok said. The spoon was called "teenager's delight."

"(Spooning is) a term that older people would know," Blok said.

"Staff of life" was bread. Coffee was called "Latin American delight," and "dragon killers" were mints. The main course, lasagna, was called "blue light special," and dessert, devil's food cake, was offered as "fallen angel."

Dinner was followed by a creative style show that again was stimulated by using a play on words.

"It's kind of a spoof thing," said Gayle Reynolds, one of the models. "I am wearing a print dress with an 18-carat necklace."

Reynold's dress was made out of newspaper, and her necklace was crafted with 18 bright orange carrots.

"A slipover sweater" was modeled by a gentleman wearing a sweater with his wife's slip over the top. "A pin striped suit" was presented by a man with stripes of pins all over his suit. A "tank top" was paraded by a man with a spray tank wrapped around his neck wearing shorts decorated with cotton balls.

Sisters resident Bonnie Emmons and her husband and four of their friends decided to attend the "Krazy Dinner"after hearing about it at the senior luncheon the Central Oregon Council on Aging (COCOA) serves on Tuesdays at the church.

We decided "to try it as it sounded like fun. ... It's good; it's very good."

Another attendee, Sisters resident Kathy Miller said, "We knew we could expect anything to happen. ... It's been fun."

Saturday Night Alive meets every other month and is open to all area seniors whether church members or not.

"We just felt that there is a need for the 55-plus people in our church and the community to get together ... and get to know each other," said Blok.

"It's a community gathering for seniors to have a fun evening sponsored by the church, but anybody and everybody's invited," said Dennis Legg, one of the pastors at Sisters Community Church. "Getting seniors connected is a part of it. There's a lot of lonely folks, and we're trying to help them get to know one another."

This summer the group is planning a trip to the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, Washington to see a musical performance and an outdoor game night where games like croquet, horseshoes and bungee ball will be offered. Specific dates have not yet been set. For more information about Saturday Night Alive contact the church at 549-1201 or Blok at 549-7875.