How about a pea salad? Frozen peas,diced water chestnuts,green onion ...held together with sour cream( could use low fat kind).

A fruit salad might be good. I remember eating "ambrosia" as a kid. Mom always left out the mini marshmallows.

I remember lots of congealed salads served on a lettuce leaf with a spoonful of mayonnaise on top. Also, wedges of ice burg lettuce with salad dressing drizzled over it.

paoberle reminded me of a half of a canned pear with a dollop of mayonnaise in the hole and shredded cheddar cheese on top of the mayonnaise. Is it a southern thing?

Pickled beets.

The broccoli salad shown above is one of my favorite salads right now. Was at a large event and it was served and I hunted down the recipe because it is soooo yummy.

lynnie, the green beans sound like a nice change up from everything suggested and not a regular at our monthly meals.

Am trying to think of what has been served at our pot luck meals and do something that has not been served every month.

bearisgray, a good tip about using the stems of the broccoli in the salad.

Pickled beets are a regular, had them on Sunday. Relish trays are also a regular.

I personally eat healthy and am not able to eat most of things brought in to our church meals. For this gathering I will have something before attending to make sure my body has the proper fuel.

It seems, those attending this annual event, are teen age boys and devour everything that is not moving.

My top picks are the long green beans along with the broccoli salad.

Thank you for the ideas.

Go to Pinterest and type in salads from the 1950's

growing up in the 50's a meal just wasn't a meal without J E L L O ! I still remember the jingle
For a short time Jello put out a vegetable flavored pack I remember celery. My mom would use that incorporating shredded cabbage and carrot. Set up in a pretty jello ring.

Wow, bringing back some memories here with the mayo inside a 1/2 pear served on a lettuce leaf. A little "fancier" time that we were concerned about presentation!

How about the 5 Cup Salad? Still a favorite with mandarin oranges, pineapple, coconut, sour cream and marshmallows.

I remember one my mother made that had lime jello, probably either cream cheese or cottage cheese, pineapple and just a hint of horseradish in it. Sounds awful but it was really quite good with just a bit of zing in it. Perhaps find the recipe on the jello website?

I just google "Salads from the 1950's " and a bunch of different recipes came up.