After an extended hiatus, the St. Francis Steak Dinner & Antique Tractor Show is back. Starting at 11:30 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. this Saturday, May 7, the event—scuppered by the pandemic since the last time it was held in March 2020—is bigger than ever, and promises food, fun, and at least 45 tractors.
The event, which benefits Roy’s only school, features a website available to take preorders for the aforementioned steak dinner “up until the very end,” promised Lynda Hertel, who co-chairs the event, along with her husband, Jeff Hertel.
That being said, it’s not necessary to use the website. Simply show up and buy a dinner, she said.
While the event, first held March 24, 1968 is a fundraiser, it’s also much more than that.
“We don’t worry too much about our bottom line. Yes, we want to make money, but we really want to bring our community back together,” Hertel said.
Technically, the event only missed a year, owing to the 2020 event being held in March, just days before Oregon and the rest of the world turned off the lights on in-person events.
Now, Hertel said the mid-spring date is important because of one simple reason: tractors.
“We have 45 classic antique tractors coming this year, and they are hard to put on grass when it’s March,” she said.
Rounding out the event is a bazaar featuring handmade crafts goods and food, created and donated by local parishioners, with those funds also supporting St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School.
The event can also be found on Facebook.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.