Monday Night Dinner returns to Coeur d'Alene with hundreds expected

A backyard meal that began with burned macaroni and cheese and 11 people is heading to a much bigger stage, with hundreds expected at the 105th Monday Night Dinner in Coeur d’Alene.

The first dinner of 2026 was scheduled for Monday, May 25, at the Coeur d’Alene Eagles 15th Street Pavilion on Cherry Hill, a move that reflects how far Adam Schluter’s homegrown tradition has outgrown its original setting. Schluter said he started the dinners after moving to Coeur d’Alene and going through a lonely stretch, wanting a place to meet people, share food and create connection. What began as a simple backyard gathering now draws people from across the city and beyond, and the pavilion gives the event the capacity it now needs.

The format remains the same. Guests are asked to bring a side dish and a $10 donation, with Schluter supplying the main food and the money going back to musicians and local arts. He has said he has never made money from the dinners, and typically spends about $200 on food while musicians receive about $500. Bombastic Brewing and ICCU have helped cover costs, and Bombastic Brewing has long provided free beer for attendees.

Schluter said arriving around 5:30 p.m. is best, with a short speech at 6:15 and dinner following. The dinners usually run every other Monday from late May through October, and the open-air pavilion should make that rhythm easier to handle as the crowd grows. Smaller Off-Monday Night Dinner gatherings had already been added when Schluter’s backyard became too crowded, a sign that the event had moved beyond what one lot on Third Street could hold.

The growth says something about Coeur d’Alene as much as it does about Schluter. The 2024 season opener at McEuen Park drew more than 200 people, then the 2025 opener brought about 150 and marked the 90th Monday Night Dinner. The first gathering, Schluter remembers, had 11 people around a broken folding table eating burned macaroni and cheese. In the years since, the dinners have spread in concept to places including Cheney, Oakland, St. Louis, South Carolina and West Virginia.

The community support has stretched beyond food and music. In July 2025, a small crew from Massachusetts with Ask This Old House filmed a backyard renovation at Schluter’s century-old home at 1037 N. Third St. The episode, “Idaho Backyard Makeover,” aired in January 2026 and featured changes that made the space more crowd-friendly, including an outdoor kitchen and quieter areas for conversation. Schluter estimated the work would have cost $50,000 or more with volunteer labor and donated materials included.

Volunteer Adrienne Perkins of AMD Interiors said the project sounded like “the most amazing thing.” For Russell Mann of Bombastic Brewing, the dinners fill a civic gap in a city he described as divided: “We have a lot of division in our community. I don’t love that,” he said. The pavilion now gives that effort room to keep growing.