The Bragg Creek Ladies Auxiliary (BCLA) is commemorating its diamond anniversary with a community cookbook this summer, including recipes from local celebrities and Bragg Creek and area residents.
To mark its 60th birthday, the community support group is looking for recipe submissions, ranging from tried-and-true recipes to family favourites to be released in a cookbook later this year.
They are also looking for local businesses to sponsor the project by purchasing advertising space to promote their company and share a recipe or two.
According to Rose Dallyn, chair of the BCLA’s Cook Book Committee, the sponsorship money will help supplement the costs associated with printing and binding the cookbook this fall.
“I think the Ladies Auxiliary has a reputation of being solid, strong and reliable,” Dallyn said. “Obviously [with] a cook book, we’re not reinventing the wheel of a fundraiser because they’ve been done before.”
Fundraising is a key component of the BCLA’s operations, and the recipe book is one way the organization can raise funds to better serve its community, she said.
Dallyn added Bragg Creek has not had a community cookbook compiled for as long as she can remember.
“I think recipes given from the Ladies Auxiliary would be trusted because they would be family recipes, tried and tested, and everyone wants to buy a cookbook,” she said.
“[A cookbook] is something different. It won’t be time sensitive, so we can bring it out at all of our events to raise money.”
Funds raised from the community cookbook’s sale will go toward sponsoring some of the BCLA’s efforts in supporting the hamlet’s community members, such as the Remembrance Day Service luncheon and community COVID-19 relief efforts.
Useful for any meal, the cookbook will include sections for appetizers, salads, main dishes, desserts, and more, according to Dallyn, along with snippets of information about the family or person who submitted the recipe.
“I want to put a little bit in the recipes of who submitted what,” she said. “I want to make it quite interesting, [such as] ‘This recipe was submitted by this family, who have lived in Bragg Creek for 400 years and this was their family favourite.'”
The pages will also feature a well-known celebrity; Canadian singer-songwriter and Springbank local Jann Arden will be submitting a recipe or two, according to Dallyn, along with local politicians.
She added the group will be accepting submissions from Bragg Creek’s surrounding communities, as well.
Dallyn said that there is something special about cooking and tasting the food that comes from a recipe out of a community cookbook.
“If I go anywhere, I always buy the local recipe because it must be tried and tested, so I feel confident that the food will be really good old-fashioned family recipes,” she said.
Carmen Cundy, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @carmenrcundy
