MTA men lunched at Borries, women at the Elks
Pub Date: 10/1/2008
By Paul F. Vang and Cole Boehler
You know, It's a long way from the Best Western Heritage Inn on Great Falls' Fox Farm Road all the way out to Black Eagle on the north side to dine at Borrie's famed Italian restaurant.
Oh, but It's worth it.
That's what the MTA men found out when they boarded buses Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 10 during the MTA Convention. Luckily, the women were treated to luncheon at a much closer destination the Elks Club.
Traditionally, the women and men have enjoyed the Wednesday luncheons strictly in the company of their own genders. A few years ago, one daring host city combined the two...and that was the last time. If nothing else, the MTA can be tradition bound.
While the fellowship at Borrie's was first rate, it did not compare to the deliciousness of the food. One would almost expect a very heavy set Italian lady maybe "Mama Borrie" to come out prattling Italian while slinging the huge platters of food out on the tables.
They serve it up family style there: big bowls and plates full of salad and steaming pastas and ravioli in good, hearty red and meaty sauce. And platters laden with big pieces of chicken, all breaded and cooked to a nice golden brown. Dish up your plate and hand the serving platters to your neighbor. Want some more? Well, there's plenty. And pass the breadsticks and butter.
Of course, beer, wine and cocktails were available from the bar to wash everything down.
Even the appetites of the biggest guys were completely satiated and another similar sized army could have been fed on what was left. State Sen. Roy Brown, candidate for Montana Governor, was on hand and looked like he was trying to add a few pounds to his lean frame. That's the idea. Now top it off with the orange sherbet dessert.
Sen. Joe Tropila, former Rep. Joe McKenney and Rep. Harry Klock were there, too.
With a good 20-minute haul to and from the lunch venue, and a business meeting waiting to commence back at headquarters, there was scant time for elaborate entertainment so CCTA Executive secretary John Hayes quickly mustered a game of head and tails at $5 a hand. This writer sat down on the first go-round.
The last standing was Jim Johnson from the Bull & Bear in Red Lodge, seen stuffing 285 new dollars into his wallet.
The women's affair, was conducted more mid-town at the Elk's Club.
Circus was the motif of the women s luncheon, a continuance of the 2008 Montana Tavern Association convention theme. Lions, tigers and elephants were part of the décor (don t worry they were stuffed animals, not real ones).
While attendees dined on a chicken and bow-tie pasta buffet luncheon, circus marches drifted from loudspeakers, until the introduction of the luncheon s featured speaker, Mrs. Clary Cory of Great Falls.
While grieving over the loss of her husband of 66 years just three weeks before the MTA convention, Mrs. Cory shared the gift of laughter with the women of MTA, as she revealed the inside story of her husband s rare talent for finding useless gifts.
Harlan Cory operated a retail paint store during his working years and seldom had time to go shopping for gifts and consequently did most of his gift shopping from catalogs. Mrs. Cory brought a shopping bag full of some of those gifts to the MTA women's luncheon. (Mrs Cory, incidentally, was the Montana Tavern Times Roger Porter s next door neighbor and Porter often referred to her, jokingly, as his adopted grandmother, or also as the Bag Lady. )
Among some of the gifts that Harlan gave his wife over the years included a set of garden tools, even though Clary didn t particularly enjoy gardening. Another find was a flour sifter that had three screens, so that it was just about impossible to actually to get flour to sift its way through all three screens.
Next she produced a pair of long, leather gloves that Harlan thought would be just the ticket for shoveling snow. The gloves don t fit and I don t shovel snow anymore, so they ve never been used.
One year he ordered electrically heated windshield ice scrapers for everybody in the family. Clary said, My daughter in Missoula tried it and said, This has to be the most lethal weapon, ever. And it doesn t work, either.
After pulling out a pair of plastic white summer shoes, which were okay since they were impervious to water, except they had bumps along the footbed which made them uncomfortable, she pulled out a pair of ski goggles. My husband was a skier, though I didn t like it. After the children came along he gave me a pair of goggles and said, Why don t we try skiing again? Me?
The gifts weren t just intended for the outdoors. One year s gift was a three piece flannel pajama outfit. She told Harlan, Is that what you think of me? That you gave me these crummy jammies? That was followed by a pink negligee, to which her reaction was, Where am I going to go with this on?
Next came a pair of pink satin pajamas. He also bought matching pink satin sheets. I told him, I m going to slide right out of bed. She added, I don t know why he kept buying me pajamas. When I have to get up in the middle of the night I don t want to have to bother with pants.
After emptying the bag of gifts, Mrs. Cory concluded by saying, I ve had a good laugh. I didn t laugh at the time but I ve been laughing ever since. I hope you ve gotten gifts just as good.
Just a note on how this poor, lonely (male) petunia was assigned to cover the women s luncheon onion patch: Publisher Cole Boehler and I flipped acoin to see who went to the men s and women s luncheons. I won.
I had to use my best manners, but I had a good time with this lively and entertaining bunch of women.
At the Great Falls Elks Club, the center of attention, no matter what else is going on, is always Charley Russell s painting of a magnificent bull elk, The Exalted Ruler, originally painted by Montana s favorite artist for his "brothers" in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in 1912.
The original painting is now on display at the Charley Russell Museum in Great Falls, after a public campaign raised over a million dollars to keep the painting off the auction block, when the local Elks Club could no longer risk having an almost priceless work of art in their lodge rooms.
The painting now at the Elks Club is an extremely well done replica.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, October, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.