New Year’s Day Chicken Dinner is free for community

A free, drive-through New Year’s Day Chicken Dinner will be offered Saturday, Jan. 1, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Huckleberry’s Restaurant in Prairie du Chien.

Planned by the Prairie du Chien Rotary Club, the dinner will include two pieces of chicken with sides of potatoes and a vegetable, a dinner roll and a cookie. Drive through on the east side of Huckleberry’s to pick up the meal on a first come, first serve basis. 

Sponsors include Leisure Time, Southwest Bus, the Prairie du Chien Area Chamber of Commerce, Czajkowski Higgins & Tisdale, Crawford County Title, Crossing Rivers Health, Peoples State Bank, Royal Bank, Community First Bank, Freedom Bank, and Fidelity Bank & Trust, Huckleberry’s Restaurant, along with a few anonymous community members.

The New Year’s Day Chicken Dinner is offered by the club in lieu of the New Year’s Day brunch they’ve held in the past. This is the second year for the chicken dinner.

“Last year, we were forced to [change things up] because of Covid. But we still wanted to have a presence on New Year’s Day,” said Michael Higgins, president of the Rotary Club. “Donations covered some of the food and the club covered the rest. We served 1,000 free meals to the community last year.”

This is the case again for this first big meal of the new year, he said. Except, the community has sponsored 1,100 this time around.

Though the meal is free, any extra funds donated by those receiving the meal will be given back to the community in the form of contributions to area food pantries. In 2021, a total of over $2,000 was split among several pantries, Higgins said.

Additionally, if there are any meals left over at the end of the chicken dinner, they will be donated to local first responders and prison guards. This also happened last year.