Lori Ishaug | VP, Veterans Honor Flight
The American Legion’s fourth annual hotdish contest on Sunday, Jan. 26, will raise funds for the Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN and Golden Drive Children. Tasting starts at 2 p.m.
Contest hotdishes keep warm while awaiting the judging at the American Legion.
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
The Minnesota winter calls for comfort food – and what’s more comforting than hotdish? The region’s most devoted casserole whizzes compete to clarify whose concoction hits the spot with a panel of judges on Sunday, Jan. 26, in a prelude to Frostival.
It’s the fourth year that the Moorhead Legion has hosted the fund-raiser for Veterans Honor Flight of ND/MN. Vice president Lori Ishaug predicts that this year’s even may draw even more than the 15 distinctive entrees that challenged the judges in 2024.
“You can never tell what will take first place,” she predicts. In the contest’s first year, she entered her mother Marlene’s favorite, goulash. “Our family just loves it. She made the best goulash of all time,” Lori reports. “It didn’t even place, but it’s all good.”
While the winter festival is slimmed down to nine days starting Jan. 31, the fourth annual edition of “Uffdah It’s Cold Out – It’s Hotdish Time” at the American Legion holds in its traditional spot on the last Sunday of January. Home chefs arrive with their specialties between 11:30 and 12:30. Last year, 15 distinctive dishes lined up in the Legion kitchen.
This year’s celebrity judges include Legion Commander Paul Leeman and two Valley News Live journalists, evening anchor Bobby Falet and digital desk host Adam Chalifoux. “Hotdish is something new to him,” Lori says of the latter. “He says it’ll be interesting.”
All can enjoy the entries after the judging is complete and trophies are presented, beginning at about 2 p.m. Last year, several hundred hungry guests lined up to taste and compare for themselves in exchange for a freewill donation to Honor Flight.
The afternoon also features a silent auction, where guests can bid on a wide variety of baskets full of goodies put together by Honor Flight volunteers/
The contest is just one of a year-long series of fund-raising events that support the Honor Flight. “We’re always trying to figure out ways to fund-raise,” Lori points out. She applauds the FM Legion Riders, who sponsor Freezin’ for a Reason Jan. 31-Feb. 2, with half of its proceeds going to the trips: “They’ve raised a total between $400,000 and $500,000 for our flights in past years.”
“There are 800 veterans on our waiting list right now, waiting for an opportunity to visit the memorials in Washington, D.C. Each three-day trip requires about $270,000 in funding. “We take about 110 veterans, a couple from the media, medical staff and volunteers to help the vets,” she says. Two flights are planned in April, both leaving from Grand Forks. The seats are filled with military veterans from all over northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.
Many of those veterans from former flights see the hotdish contest as a great place to get together and share stories, she adds: “When it’s so cold out, hotdish is the perfect comfort food.”
To enter your own family favorite, bring your specialty to the American Legion, 303 30th St. N., between 11:30 and 12:30. No pre-registration is necessary, but each entry must be accompanied by a copy of its recipe.
