Senior citizens can sign up at the Minot Commission on Aging for the annual Thanksgiving Day of Love at Minot Air Force Base.
As of midday Tuesday, 120 local senior citizens had signed up for the activities. Reservations will be taken for 200 senior citizens.
Senior citizens who have signed up for the event must be at the Parker Center in downtown Minot at 10 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22. Buses from Minot AFB will pick them up and they will be taken to the base for the festivities, including Thanksgiving Day dinner. They will be returned to the Parker Center at about 1:30 or 2 p.m.
The Thanksgiving Day event at Minot AFB has been a tradition for more than 40 years.
The program got its start when Col. Grover C. Graves Jr., then-commander of the 91st Strategic Wing, now 91st Missile Wing, contacted Claude "Bud" Ebert, then chief of Recreation Services at the base, about putting together a program for Minot's senior citizens. Graves also wanted base personnel who were away from their families during the holiday to take part in the program.
The base event has continued throughout the years with airmen and their families volunteering as escorts to assist the senior citizens, serve coffee, carry food trays and visit.
Senior citizens who wish to attend the Day of Love should call the Minot Commission on Aging at 852-0561.