MECHANIC FALLS – Jim Craig started out washing the dishes. Five years later he had advanced to preparing the main dish.

Saturday evening he worked in the kitchen of the First Congregational Church, cutting up ham, removing the skin and fatty parts for a crowd of more than 80 in the other room.

Lamplighter smorgasbord suppers have been a monthly tradition at the Elm Street church since the 1970s, but are in their final days.

They are held the first Saturday of each month. The last two are Nov. 3 and Dec. 1.

Citing an aging population, not enough people to bring dishes and not enough volunteers, the dinners will stop at the end of the year, said event host Ruth Malcolm of Mechanic Falls. This is the church’s primary fundraiser.

Funding restraints have caused the church to give up on its goal of rebuilding the steeple and bell.

“It’s just gotten to be too much for us to keep on going,” Malcolm said.

Around 30 dishes of beans, casseroles and desserts lined a table in the middle of the room Saturday. Volunteers walked around with water, coffee and punch to the people seated at long tables, many buttering bread and chit-chatting.

Each table has a number. Once the volunteers had put the final touches on the spread by checking the utensils and straightening out the plates, Malcolm called the tables two at a time. The crowd, mostly elderly, got up and filled their plates with a wide variety of foods.

At the end of the line, Lula Meserve dished out the ham which Craig had prepared. She too has had several jobs in her years of volunteering at the church.

Mike Ring, the church’s pastor, walked around and mingled. He knew many of the people by name.

The dinners got their name because of the old-fashioned gas lamps that top each table. They used to be lit, but pollution concerns led them to be put out, and just used for decoration.

Emil Hahnel of Lewiston said he started coming 14 years ago when he retired. One of the best things, he said, is that he doesn’t have to clean the dishes when he gets home.

Arlene Hawkins and her husband, Raymond, both of Auburn, said they have been coming for more than five years. The people are friendly and the food is good. Arlene Hawkins is particularly fond of the stuffed eggs and a blueberry jelled salad.

“Everytime we come we meet someone new,” she said with a smile.