Depot dinner fund-raiser set

Ever wanted to enjoy a meal in the dining car of a train?

The Thomson/McDuffie Chamber of Commerce will try to re-create that experience during the second annual Dinner By the Tracks.

The event will be Saturday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25 per person and only 150 tickets will be sold.

Dinner By the Tracks will be on the platform of Thomson's historic depot. Chamber volunteer Ken Usry with Regions Bank will be the head chef. Dressed like railroad engineers, chamber members and local celebrities will be waiters for the event.

"They did this several years and called it Dinner on the Boardwalk, where we closed the street off and had tables on the street. Last year we were doing it to raise money to restore the Depot, so I came up with the idea of Dinner By the Tracks," said Chamber Director Carolyn Gilbert. "We moved it to the platform and had trees with white lights, so you would kind of think you were in a dining car on a train."

This year's event will have a 1950s theme. Antique automobiles from that era will be brought in for the event and the Thomson Bulldog Players will perform excerpts from the musical Grease. Jack McNeill will play the piano during dinner and other local groups also will provide entertainment.

Proceeds from the event will be used for the renovation of the depot.

"I want to see this railroad station look like a railroad station again," Gilbert said. "Bob Flanders, who is our city manager now, was here 20 years ago and was responsible for restoring the Depot and it hasn't been touched since then."

Plans for the depot include installing a new sound system, refinishing the floors, hanging new drapes and renovating the kitchen.

Under way is a project to restore Monument Square, which is the side of the depot that faces Main Street. Its crown jewel is the monument to Southern Confederate women, one of only two such monuments in the state, which has been cleaned during the project. Cement around the square has been removed and will be replaced with grass. Park benches and trees also will be installed.

"Everything will be ready for our tree lighting ceremony in December," Gilbert said.

For more information or to purchase tickets, go by the Chamber office at the depot in Thomson or call 597-1000.