When you think about Thanksgiving Day and the subsequent feasting you think of gathering in your dining room and sharing the time with your closest relatives. In The Dalles (OR) the idea of a Thanksgiving feast has given way to an annual event sponsored by the Salvation Army but served at the local Catholic grade schools gymnasium after the meal is prepared at the local community college’s kitchens. It has become truly a community wide event drawing up to 1,000 people from every socio-economic circle in the town.

Preparation begins the week before the feast with hundreds of pounds of potatoes being peeled and cooked, 50 turkeys being roasted and deboned and lots and lots of pies made in home kitchens and donated to the cause according to an article in The Dalles Chronicle newspaper.