Antioch Senior Center hosts Thanksgiving today

If you had 110 people coming over for Thanksgiving dinner, you would start cooking early too.

Paul Howard, director of the Antioch Senior Center, says the birds were getting stuffed and the potatoes were getting mashed Friday, ahead of the annual community Thanksgiving dinner to be held today.

This is the fourth year the senior center, the Open Arms mission and the Antioch Chamber of commerce have hosted the free feast.

The event is usually held on Thanksgiving Day, but organizers decided to move it to Saturday this year.

"We wanted to change things up a bit," Howard said. "We thought it might be a way to attract more people and it might be easier to get volunteer help."

Howard said attendance has increased steadily over the years. He's not sure if that is due to the sagging economy or the increased publicity.

"We had around 60 people our first year, but I think we'll easily have more than 100 this year," he said. The senior center is at 817 Holbeck St. near downtown Antioch.

Volunteers will serve up turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce from noon until 2 p.m. while guests listen to dinner music provided by pianist Dorothy Langley.

"And we have a zillion different desserts," Howard said with a smile.

For information, contact the center at (847) 395-0139.