ALMONT - A bride doesn't promise to love, honor and obey in Almont.

She promises to love, honor and help with the annual lutefisk supper.

The 60th annual lutefisk and meatball supper is today and it isn't just about brides, anymore.

There were as many men as women slaving over sizzling meatballs and chunks of cold lutefisk Friday as preparations for the Norwegian feast went into high gear.

The supper starts at 3 p.m. at the Almont Legion Hall and ends when the last person says "Uff da!" and pushes back from the table.

The meal is served family style in the lower hall, and the men and women of Almont take great pride in serving the meal hot and homemade, right down to the real mashed potatoes and warm frothy butter for dipping big forks full of lutefisk.

Traditionally, the Almont folks serve between 900 and 1,000 people in an event that's as much about their own tradition of togetherness as it is about the tally.

There's no reason to expect any fewer dinner guests today with balmy weather ushering in November.

Any wait until a table opens will be sweetened with musical and dance entertainment.

The lutefisk and meatball supper is one of those grand community events that's survived its founders and draws on the fifth generation of helpers.

Gloria Doll said she tagged along with her mother to the very first supper served to returning servicemen after WWII in 1946. It skipped a year and started again in 1948, without stopping.

Doll said her mother worked the supper until she was 90, because like everyone who shows up to help, she had a job to do.

Charlotte Thiel, who says she's a perfectly good Norwegian married to a German, is the mashed potato queen.

It's her job to keep the spuds rolling out of the mixer in a blend of cream, milk and real butter.

"It's why we look the way we do," she said, laughing.

Charlotte Thiel's sister, Grace Smith, 78, has been working the supper since she was 26.

Smith said the supper is nearly the same after all these years, only the equipment is better.

The women used to spend a week prior to the supper making lefse and homemade pies, she said.

Now, the lefse is purchased ready-made, as well as the lutefisk, which is cod from Norway that's soaked and distributed through Olsen Foods of Minnesota.

In all, the Almont folks will prepare 850 pounds of lutefisk, 260 pounds of meatballs, 400 pounds of potatoes, 2,500 sheets of lefse, tubs of coleslaw, 440 fresh-baked buns and an assortment of fresh desserts.

Joel Johnson, one of the organizers, said the supper is the easiest event in town.

"Everybody knows what to do. It's always pretty much the same as last year," he said.

Johnson said he's hoping for a good turnout today. "We've got a lot food. I hope a lot of people come," he said.

Judging from the energy and good humor bubbling in the kitchen Friday, the 60th won't be the last year for this locally famous example of small-town hospitality, either.

"Nobody gives up," said Smith. "The old-timers didn't quit."

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)