By best recollection of all questioned it is the one and only of its kind for the community of Oakdale. Not only is the Oakdale Dinner Club the only strictly social club to date, it is also the longest standing club in Oakdale’s history.
First appearing in the Oakdale Leader on Nov. 22, 1923, the club recently celebrated 100 years as a formal group. The first official meeting was hosted on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 1923 with 25 members in attendance.
“The club will be entirely social, and it is the intention to have some attraction at each meeting to interest the membership,” the Nov. 22 article stated.
Now, 100 years later, while the faces have changed and the location is a bit different, the Oakdale Dinner Club is still around and now meets the first Wednesday of each month at the Gene Bianchi Community Center.
“We get all kinds of people to Dinner Club,” Oakdale historian and longtime member Don Riise shared.
During its 100 years of activity the Dinner Club has been hosted in three different locations, settling in its current home when the Gene Bianchi Community Center was completed in the early 2000’s.
“Dinner Club is just basically a social club, a men’s social club you might say and that’s it,” Riise continued.
He further described the club as “kind of generic,” sharing it’s not a fundraising club or service club although some members may belong to those as well.
“You kind of learn when you’re in business in particular, you know you just socialize so you can connect and socialize with your customers and potential customers,” Riise said of the value of connection.
While the group is not a service club per se, according to Riise they do still do their part to support the community. Most recently a toy drive was hosted at the December meeting, with donations being distributed throughout town.
“They do things for the community,” Riise said.
It is the social aspect which was most intriguing to incoming Oakdale Dinner Club president Farrell Jackson as well. Jackson shared he’s been a member just around a decade, first attending as a guest when invited by a longtime friend.
“It’s purely a social club,” Jackson stated of the club, noting his first attendance at a meeting felt like a high school reunion with members of all ages.
“It’s just a good time. You socialize, you might have a couple of drinks, you have dinner, there’s the program and you’re home by 8 o’clock,” Jackson added.
Now with just shy of 70 members, Oakdale Dinner Club meets nine times a year, taking the summer months of June through August off. Dinner is hosted each week by Medlen’s House of Beef.
“As president one of my goals is to have interesting speakers,” Jackson offered regarding what he hopes to enhance during his tenure in the leadership role.
Jackson further noted the history of the club as well as the generational membership as unique attributes of the group.
“The thing that really drew me to that club and keeps me in, is the camaraderie and the people that you see,” he said, making mention of members as young as 21 on up to 90 years of age.
Each monthly meeting starts with social hour from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; dinner which concludes around 7:15 p.m.; followed by a guest speaker.
Acknowledging the club’s return to the pages of the Oakdale Leader, the incoming president shared it will serve as a nice fundraiser as members are fined $1 each time they appear in the newspaper.
“The things that you learn in there, just talking to some of these old guys … and the young guys,” Jackson said, chuckling, of what he enjoys about the regular gatherings.
