The 84th annual St. Mary Parish Festival and Chicken Dinner will be held Sunday, July 13.

Brian Krombeen and Dave Fortner are the chairpersons for the event, which raises thousands of dollars each year for St. Mary School.

The all-you-can-eat chicken dinner with all the trimmings will be served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the school cafeteria and gymnasium.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for children 4-10, and free for children 3 years and younger.
Take-out dinners will also be available.

Festivities include numerous games for children and adults, including Bingo with a wide variety of prizes. Free crafts for younger children will also be available in the first grade classroom.

A highlight of the festival is the Country Store featuring locally handcrafted items, Christmas items, rag rugs, homemade baked goods, and fresh garden vegetables.

The St. Mary Parish Quilters will have quilts on display for sale and are available to teach quilting and take custom orders. One of their handmade works of art will be the grand prize in the 2008 raffle, which features 49 prizes. First place prize is $1,000 cash, second is another handmade quilt and third is hand-carved walking stick by parishioner Jim Rich.

Proceeds help defray the annual operational costs of St. Mary School, which offers a faith-based educational program for students in preschool through 12th grade.