A Central Oregon tradition that began 75 years ago is returning Saturday to the Powell Butte Christian Church. Lord’s Acre Day is a huge feast that invites thousands of people to enjoy fresh-baked pies, cinnamon rolls and barbecued meats.

The event was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers still held a small gathering at the church to keep the annual streak alive.

“It was quite disappointing,” said Clay Penhollow, chairman of the Lord Acre’s Committee and elder at the church. “But we went ahead and did an internal celebration because we wanted to still call this the 75th.”

This year’s event, like all the others since 1947, will be held on the first Saturday of November to celebrate the tradition of tithing an acre of farmland to the church.

“For us, it’s our Thanksgiving time,” Penhollow said. “It’s the church’s celebration of what God has done for us and taking care of us. It was always in the fall because the farmers were done with their harvest and they could actually give an acre’s worth of something.”

Penhollow, 63, of Redmond, grew up in the church. As a boy he helped park cars and set up tables for the Lord’s Acre Day. His father, Carroll Penhollow, 85, still oversees the barbecue pit, where roasted beef, lamb and ham cook underground overnight Friday until steam comes out the dirt and it is ready to serve by 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

In addition to the barbecue, visitors are encouraged to show up early to get a good spot in line for the hundreds of homemade pies and cinnamon rolls. A variety of arts and crafts will be on sale as well.

The event starts at 9 a.m., the same time a 5K run/walk will start. Everyone who participates in the 5K gets a piece of pie, and winners of each division get a whole pie.

Penhollow said some people enjoy stopping by, while on their way to other craft fairs, while other people stay all day for the food and fellowship.

“There’s lots of different parts to it, but some people come and stay for the whole thing,” Penhollow said.

Penhollow’s grandfather, Devere Lannis Penhollow, was the first pastor of the Powell Butte Christian Church, when it was formed in 1945 in an old school building. By 1947, the church realized it needed more space for its growing congregation, Penhollow said.

Church members read an article in a magazine about a South Carolina church that raised money through a Lord’s Acre initiative, where each farm family would donate 1 acre’s worth of their bounty to the church.

The Powell Butte church decided to try the concept for a new brick chapel building and raised nearly $6,000 that first year.

In the 1950s, Lord’s Acre Day drew prominent politicians. Hubert Humphrey, a U.S. senator at the time, visited in 1954, and John F. Kennedy, and his wife, Jacqueline, attended in 1959, the year before he was elected president.

Today, the Lord’s Acre event hosts about 2,000 visitors each year. It has raised more than $80,000 for the church. In the early years, most of the funds went to building maintenance, but over time more has helped fund missionary work and bible college scholarships, Penhollow said.

“They always used at least 10% for mission work and kept the remainder to build the structure,” Penhollow said. “Then once all that was completed, the proceeds went to more mission work and we used it for improvements and upkeep and that’s what we have continued to do.”

Being able to invite a full crowd to the event Saturday is meaningful to Penhollow. People are asked to wear masks indoors and keep their distance, but it will still be a special time to gather the community, Penhollow said.

The day has been a part of Penhollow’s entire life, and something he always looks forward to sharing with others.

He is reminded of the work his grandfather and father have put in over the years. It’s work he hopes to continue.

“I’ve been looking back and thinking about the people who started it and why they did and how important that was to them,” Penhollow said. “It’s a legacy.”