Locally produced meat, including buffalo, was on the menu at Sierra Club Annual Meeting at KY Dam Village.

It is not often that the cook gets the kind of props they deserve. Especially when the food is the usually bland and predictable banquet fair.

The chefs at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park outdid themselves to go above and beyond banquet fare for the 2011 Annual Meeting Kentucky’s Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club. According to members, it was the first time in fifteen years, the organization has met in far western Kentucky.

The chefs responded to a goal of the Sierra Club to think globally and act locally with a variety of foods not shipped in, but from area vendors. Buffalo meat was just one of the local foods on the menu.

Diners at the banquet on Saturday night, November 12th, responded to their efforts with an enthusiastic standing ovation.

The dinner, which included choices of pasta sauces created individually while the diner  waited for the sauce to be sautéed, was served at various stations. Soup and salad in one corner, the entrees in others. Dessert was apple cobbler served with homemade ice cream.

After two days of hiking, sightseeing and networking, Sierra Club members were ready for a relaxing evening. Many had not been to the far end of the state and the

On Friday, attendees were treated to a Veteran’s Day program and casual get together. Then on Saturday morning, presentations on Mark Twain, bird diversity in Kentucky and the Mississippi flyways and the Land Between the Lakes filled the morning.

Saturday afternoon, Sierra Club members could tour the generating station at Kentucky Lake, the Quilt Museum in Paducah, or visit the Hancock Biological Station, the Woodlands Nature Station or Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge.

Recognition of individual volunteer efforts were awarded by the local organizations. Dinner on Saturday evening was followed by music provided by PB & J.

Before leaving the Purchase on Sunday, Sierra Club members were invited to visit Duncan Lake to view the eagles that nest on the Lake.

Sierra Club members unfamiliar with the area vowed to return to spend more time getting to know the farthest western edge of the state.