Former Ironton Coke Plant employees may not work side-by-side with each other anymore, but they still get together for dinner.

After the plant closed in 1982, employees decided they would still get together once a year to catch up with each other, Earl Smith, who worked at the plant for more than 15 years before it closed, said.

“We just have dinner and talk,” Smith said. “We do it every year. We just thought everyone would love to see each other.”

The group will gather at the VFW in Ironton Saturday at 10 a.m.

Smith’s wife, Delores, will cook the meat and everyone who attends should bring a covered dish.

Smith said the plant provided many are residents with jobs and when the plant closed down it took away a lot of jobs.

“They paid pretty good money and it was a good place to work,” Smith said. “When the new company came we knew it would shut down. It was just a matter of when.”

He said the plant produced coke, which is coal that is cooked in an oven and used for furnaces and foundry.

Anyone with question about the reunion can contact Earl Smith at (740) 532-3000.