Rotary Plans To Refurbish

Alexandria Room Kitchen

By Steve Bigham

The Rotary Club of Newtown has plans to raise funds to refurbish the antiquated kitchen in the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall.

It has been 16 years since a meal was cooked in the kitchen. All cooking, frying, baking, and boiling was halted in 1983 after an inspection revealed the facility did not have the proper fire prevention mechanisms. A lack of money has prevented the Town Hall Board of Managers from upgrading the facility.

Once a year, the town fire marshal’s office does allow the Rotary Club to put on a pancake breakfast using a portable stove outside the kitchen. However, the absence of a hood over the existing stove has made it a cook-free kitchen.

On Thursday, May 18, the Rotary Club will host an art auction in the Alexandria Room with the proceeds to go toward a refurbished kitchen. The cost is $10 per person, $15 per couple. The event begins at 7 pm with a one-hour preview. The auction kicks off at 8 pm, put on by Ross Galleries out of Holbrook, N.Y.

“All artwork is custom framed and matted. Opening bids are up to 50 percent less than traditional framed gallery prices and there is going to be all sorts of art and sports memorabilia,” noted coordinator Paul Dohrenwend, a Newtown Rotarian. “It will be a fun evening where people in town can meet their friends and have a good time.”

For ticket sales and information, call Paul at 426-8696.

Newtown Rotary has been putting on a pancake breakfast in the Alexandria Room for the past 40 years.

“Our thinking is, ‘hey, let’s start a fund to renovate it and then invite other service organizations in town to increase the fund,’” Mr Dohrenwend noted. “We’ve been putting on a pancake breakfast there for 40 years. The use of it in the future is in question. We believe it is a very important resource for the whole town.”

Cost estimates to refurbish the kitchen are in the $100,000 range. It will take the efforts of the entire community to ensure that the project gets done, Rotarians say.

High on the list of things needed is a hood over the kitchen’s stove. As assistant fire marshal Bill Halstead points out, if a stove fire ever started, a hood would force the flames upward rather than allowing them to spread throughout the kitchen. A hood also serves as an exhaust system and filters out grease. All restaurants and delis are required to have hoods above their cooking areas.

According to building manager Tom Mahoney, the Town Hall Board of Managers has been aware of the kitchen’s shortcomings. It has simply been a question of money – or the lack of it. “That’s the bottom line,” he said.

Those who rent the Alexandria Room usually get around the no-cooking rule by simply having their events catered. The Board of Managers also hopes to install a new stove to replace the 40-year-old existing one. The kitchen also needs a freezer.