More than 800 people attended the organization's free Thanksgiving dinner

By Dana Rieck, Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

This year's Ann Jenson Thanksgiving Day Dinner not only served more people but featured something new: live country music.

More than 800 people attended the dinner Thursday hosted by the Associated Veterans of Loveland.

Janice Hindes, one of the event's organizers, said the dinner feeds around 75 to 100 additional people each year — last year approximately 746 people paid visit to the event, open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

"So we went up by about 50 people," she said. "I expected to go over 800. It could have easily been more than that, though. The community chipped in wonderfully."

Volunteers and dinner patrons filled the room as nearly 150 people were served dinner in the first hour of the event.

DeAnn Madrid, a first-time volunteer with the Associated Veterans of Loveland, said her son recently moved away out of the state. So, she was looking for a meaningful way to spend her holiday when her friend suggested they participate.

"It just feels good," Madrid said. "It's hard not to cry. It is awesome."

Members of the Associated Veterans of Loveland began working on the meal around 6 a.m. Monday the week of Thanksgiving.

Lynette Bruno, a Loveland resident, said her family had discussed volunteering for an event like this for some time and finally decided to participate in one — they chose the Ann Jenson Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

"We finally decided this is our year,and we are really enjoying it," Jensen said. "It's a great turn out. We are so excited."

Jensen's daughter, Gina Book, was pushing the dessert cart around to tables with her two children Annika, 4, and Katrina, 7.

"I love the part when you give (the pie) to them," Annika said.

Dinner patrons were dished out not only a hearty helping of Thanksgiving favorites but also a country music showcase.

Alan Wobbeking, also known as Cowboy Al, volunteered his time to serenade the Thanksgiving crowd Thursday.

He said he had been singing karaoke for 25 years when an artist he fell in love with told him to turn his karaoke songs, which he knew by heart, into a performance.

"She started to get me to sing it instead of read it," he said. "She said, 'Why do you read the words? I've never known anybody who knows more words to more songs than you do.’”

Wobbeking, who drives a taxi (and yes, he sings to his passengers as well), said he goes around to assisted living homes in Fort Collins, Loveland and the surrounding areas putting on shows for the residents.

It all started when a woman approached him at Island Grill a few years ago when he was singing karaoke, he said. She told him that her deceased husband used to sing the song he had performed and she asked Wobbeking to visit her assisted living home and serenade her friends.

"After that, I just started making calls to all the facilities in Larimer County," he said. "I would say, 'Hey, do you pay for entertainers?' And if they said 'yes,' I would say, 'Well, I would like to do a free show for you because I think you'll hire me.'"

He now performs 700 songs but said he knows more than 1,000 songs — everything from classic rock to country to artists like Afroman.

His roommate, Melody Sullivan, volunteered Wobbeking for the Thanksgiving performance — she was there Thursday helping to serve dinner patrons for the first time.

"I just never believed there would be so many people (here)," she said. "... It's been great and I like not having to cook."