New England is very conservative. Even though folks may be liberal politically, there's still an awful lot of conservative-style meat at folkie parties. Sausage casserole, pate (sausage sans casing), beans with sausage, chili with big chunks of meat (possibly in the form of sausage), grilled hot dogs or other type of sausage and pickled herring (HA - try to make THAT into a sausage!).
I have never once seen Jello with stuff in it at a party around here. It's quite likely the last guy who tried that pooted out of Mr. Dunderbeck's machine directly into the rice and SAUSAGE.