From the market to kitchen to trails, community gives thanks

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, generosity was simmering all across Ithaca — from the Beacon Events & Catering kitchen turning out 1,300 free meals, to hundreds of runners preparing for the quirky Turkey Trot charity race, to local vendors and families filling the Ithaca Farmers Market, selling and searching for vibrant local ingredients.

Beacon team prepares 1,300 free holiday meals

At Beacon Events & Catering, a small team was hard at work in the early stages of cooking over 1,000 Thanksgiving meals.

The team started cooking for the upcoming meal six days in advance of giveaway day, which is the day before Thanksgiving.

The effort to give out free Thanksgiving meals to those in need of home-cooked food began in 2020. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, local restaurant owner and head of ITH Hospitality Kevin Sullivan — with help from dedicated members of his staff — decided this was a fitting way to say “thank you” for all of the support they had received from the community.

In reality, Sullivan noted, not much has changed since then. “The need is always there,” he said. “The political climate changes, but the reality in this country is that the people who are on hard times are our neighbors. They’re here in the community. The faces may change, but I think that’s one of the things that is very stable in our’s and every community in the United States.”

This year, the number of meals given away will likely be around 1,300.

The number may sound daunting, but Sullivan said this is something his team knows how to do pretty easily. As a catering service, Beacon is uniquely positioned to make large amounts of food efficiently, and the week of Thanksgiving is one of the quietest of the year. This gives the cooks the perfect opportunity to prepare mass amounts of mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, vegetables, dinner rolls and, of course, turkey.

“We serve out of our catering department well over 100,000 meals a year, so we’re pretty used to it,” Sullivan said. 

For Chef Matt Marisa of Beacon, giveaway day has become a yearly tradition, with his nine-year-old daughter Leila lending a hand wherever help is needed.

“She just likes having the opportunity to help others,” said the chef, who is leading the efforts for the fourth time this year.

Cooking 500 pounds of turkey breast takes about 24 hours. The key to a great Thanksgiving meal is good gravy, he said, and the secret to that is keeping all of your pan drippings and adding a healthy dash of thyme.

Sullivan, who owns Purity Ice Cream Co., Beacon, and multiple locations of Luna, receives donations from his food suppliers to help make the meals possible. CP Foods in Freeville, for instance, supplied all of the carrots, to the tune of 400 pounds — all donated for free.

Members of the community donate money to the effort, as well, and volunteers deliver the food. Sullivan pays all of his employees who are involved. 

About 75 percent of the meals are delivered. They are distributed from Beacon Events & Catering on East Shore Drive, with a second pickup location at Shortstop Deli in Ithaca.

There is an online form for those who would like to deliver and another for those who want to sign up to receive a meal.

The program is generally capped when the team reaches the maximum number of meals they are able to accommodate, which is usually around 1,300, though this year they might end up making a little bit more than that, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that many people are signed up to receive a meal by a friend or family member.

“A lot of people won’t help themselves,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of people who go out of their way to help someone who needs it.”

The beneficiaries of the giveaway come from all walks of life.

“There are families who are excited to have a meal without cooking because they’re working,” Sullivan said. “We certainly see some students that are stuck here for the holiday and have limited resources. It’s kind of all shapes and sizes.”

As Turkey Day approaches, Sullivan mentioned one thing he feels thankful for.

“I think we all feel very supported and lucky to have a community that focuses so much of their spending and support on local businesses,” Sullivan said. “So, you know, we feel that throughout the year.”

Turkey Trot runners lace up to support Loaves and Fishes

While some are cooking, others are preparing for a unique Ithaca tradition that takes participants out of the kitchen and onto the trails. The Turkey Trot, an Ithaca tradition since 1973, will take place again this year, raising money for Loaves and Fishes, an organization in Ithaca that serves free hot meals to people in need.

The suggested donation to participate is $10 per person. In 2024, the event raised a record $7,368 for Loaves and Fishes, bringing the total since 2014 to $46,787.

“It’s kind of been the focal point for Thanksgiving for the family,” said Jay Hubisz, of Ithaca, whose extended family travels from all over the country to Ithaca for the holiday every year. About six or seven of them typically participate in the race, and if they don’t run, they enjoy cheering the runners along.

The tradition was started by former Ithaca High School track coach Bob Congdon, who is also one of the founding members of the Finger Lakes Runners Club.

The idea, Congdon said, was to have high school alumni run the race. This would be a unique sort of race: no prize would be awarded to the fastest runner. Instead, the person who most closely predicted their time would win a free pie.

Hubisz’ family took home two pies one year. “That was a special year,” he said. He credits his success to both luck and having run the race so many times in the past (every year since 2016, except for the year it was canceled due to COVID).

“Typically, you have to be within a second or two of your guessed time,” Hubisz said.

The event started out with about 15 runners the first year. Then Congdon convinced teachers to run, as well as alumni, and it started to grow. Soon whole families — including children, grandparents and family from out of town — started entering the race.

Now it’s around 400 runners strong.

Part of the race when it first started in the ‘70s was that the “loser” who was farthest off their predicted time would receive a huge trophy, which they would have to take home and decorate before passing it along to the next loser the following year.

The route is as unique as the rest of the race. It’s about 5.5 miles at its longest, with several shortcuts that make the race both shorter and less hilly, so young and inexperienced runners can join in the fun.

“My mother, who was elderly, was able to walk,” Congdon said. “It’s just approachable for anybody.”

Family members of runners don’t even have to participate to have a good time. “You can stay inside the school and watch everybody go by and be part of it, watching as a spectator,” said Congdon, “or you can help with any jobs that need to be done.”

Hubisz said that running has been a big part of his life for many years, and cross-country — both as a hobby and a sport — is an interest he has been happy to share with his children, Riley, 18, and Maple, 14.

“I’m the kind of guy who feels like my brain is melting if he doesn’t burn some significant amount of calories each day,” he said. “The other really crucial part of it is the culture around it in the community.”

He said running helped Riley improve his mental health as a middle schooler coming out of the difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It just became a central part of his identity,” Hubisz said. A couple years ago Riley was state champion in the indoor two-mile, and last year he ran for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For this family, spending part of Thanksgiving Day on the trails feels right.

“It’s always good to get outside for a little while, you know, before you get into the throes of cooking, the big dinner and everything,” said Hubisz, “and it just starts the day off well.”

Farmers’ Market shoppers seek out local flavors for the holiday table

At the Ithaca Farmers’ Market on Nov. 23, local farmers and foodies connected on plans for the perfect locally sourced Thanksgiving meal.

Fresh, eye-catchingly nontraditional vegetables in all colors of the rainbow were some of the most popular items, according to vendors.

“We’ve sold a lot of salad mix,” said Ed Baptist, of Fort Baptist Farm in Ithaca. “It’s kind of a lighter, nice, bright thing to have.”

Baptist said that he hears interesting recipes from his customers. He sells pale orange and green Jamaican pumpkins, which one woman said she planned to use for a French recipe.

“It involves baking the pumpkin with a delicious concoction of ingredients inside the pumpkin itself,” Baptist said. “You scoop out the seeds and put in a whole bunch of delicious-sounding stuff.” He remembered that she mentioned cream, white French bread crumbs and “a bunch of herbs.”

How does a Jamaican pumpkin differ from the regular kind, in Baptist’s opinion? “It tastes better,” he said.

Andy Shin, a Cornell University student, was buying flowers from Yvonne Tarentelli at the Plenty of Posies booth.

“If you give them a fresh cut and put them in fresh water, they will last at least two to three weeks,” Tarentelli assured him.

He purchased a bouquet for the Thanksgiving table of Cornell professor Anindita Banerjee, who has invited Shin to her house for the holiday for the third year. “I’ve been bringing flowers every time,” he said.

Shin said he “dropped everything” at the age of 12 to move from his home in Korea to Los Angeles. He spends Thanksgiving with Banerjee and the large group of guests she hosts for a potluck meal every year.

Jacqui McCarthy was buying produce for her Thanksgiving meal, which will be at home in Syracuse with her adult children. It will be a brunch this year, she said, and after meeting someone in Ithaca from whom she was purchasing a Christmas gift, she stopped by the market and ended up filling not just one but two large totes full of produce and other goodies.

“I needed multicolored carrots,” McCarthy said. “I got some shallots and just filled my bag up right away and had to take my full L. L. Bean canvas bag back to the car. I got a different bag … then these turnips just, like, made me stop,” she said, gesturing to the bright white turnip bunches at a nearby booth.

McCarthy plans to make a wild rice dish with roasted squash and Brussels sprouts, mixed with cranberries, pecans and walnuts.

“You cook all these [ingredients] separately, and it’s just gorgeous,” she said.

At the Buried Treasures Organic Farm booth, Mary McGarry-Newman said that her customers have been excited to purchase produce that will brighten up their tables on Thanksgiving. The farm’s crops provided many options, including all colors of radishes, which she cut into thin slices and arranged artfully on a plate so people could sample them.

“They’re really fun to bring to a holiday table,” McGarry-Newman said. Another popular item was the farm’s Romanesco.

“I mean, look at that.” McGarry-Newman said, picking up a bright green, fist-sized ball that resembled a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. “It’s gorgeous, the fractals and all.”

She recommends roasting it and said that it retains its color. “It brings out all the sweetness,” she said.

McGarry-Newman does not mind braving the cold to provide her customers with local, hard-to-find holiday ingredients.

“It’s part of what we do,” she said. We really appreciate that our customers come down here, and so we want to be here when they come. We can’t do it without them, and they can’t do it without us. It’s a beautiful relationship.”