"I started liverfest up ten years ago with the help of some friends. It all came to accumulation of a night of sitting around at a table and how many people we found out that liked to have liver," says Dennis Young, one of the Liverfest organizers.

The group decided to get together and enjoy a meal or two but quickly decided to extend the invitation to the whole community. Now people from across Southern Manitoba ask Young for a phone call so they never miss the event.

"We averaged over 125 people the first year," he says. Although a lower attendance this year at 65 people, Young says there were many compliments about the event.

Historically, players from the Carman Beaver hockey team have attended as volunteers who clean tables and help serve, and the team would receive the funds raised from the evening.

Young says they have since "moved it on and [given] the donation to the new personal care home in Carman, that kind of thing. Since then its just been a legion function and the money goes into the legion coffers."

They have found that donating the money to the legion is a simpler way of making sure the funds are always going right back into some kind of community initiative or project.

The community is always very supportive, adds Young. "We get the same cooks every year, and they're just friends of mine that come in. Actually, the ones that are cooking the liver don't actually eat the liver, but they're willing to stand there and smell like liver when they're done to help the cause."

When it comes down to it, the event is all about helping to serve the community and enjoying liver in fellowship with neighbours.

"We were all closet liver lovers when we began, so we didn't know how many were out there hiding in the closet but they sure came out when we said there was an all you can eat liverfest."