The annual U. S. Coast Guard Appreciation Dinner featured barbecued steak dinners for more than 120 U. S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay personnel and their guests, an annual thank you to the members of the Coast Guard who keep North Coast seafarers safe. In addition to steaks barbecued on the giant grills of the Elks Lodge for the guests in attendance, more than one dozen steak dinners were cooked, boxed and delivered to on-duty personnel who were unable to attend the event. The dinner, a yearly collaboration among the three Eureka Rotary Clubs—Eureka, Southwest Eureka, Old Town—and Elks Lodge #652, celebrates the Coast Guard’s August birthday and the deep ties between the Coast Guard and the City of Eureka. In 2000, Eureka became the second city in the country to be designated as an Official Coast Guard City by the U.S. Congress—it is one of only 20 cities in the country to receive that designation.
Captain Gregory T. Fuller, Sector Commander, United States Coast Guard, Sector Humboldt Bay presented commemorative plaques to the evening’s hosts, saying that “this steak dinner is the best event of the year for the women and men of the Coast Guard.” (Amended from swrotary.org)