Perhaps the answer to the proverbial question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” can be found this Saturday July 25, as St. Mary’s Parish in Barnesville, Maryland, which will be hosting its 151st Annual Chicken Dinner and Jousting Tournament.
Down the hill from St. Mary’s Church, a large banner along Barnesville Road promotes the annual chicken dinner next to a life-sized metal chicken sculpture that is looking toward the other side of the road, as if to wait for a break in the traffic to scurry away from being served at the dinner.
When the first chicken dinner was held at St. Mary’s in 1875, the nation was one year away from celebrating its centennial, and Custer was one year away from his last stand.
Now as the United States is marking its 250th anniversary, St. Mary’s will be holding its 151st Annual Chicken Dinner from noon to 6 p.m., serving $20 meals available for dine-in or carry-out. The day will also include the parish’s annual Jousting Tournament, featuring the state sport of Maryland, in which horses running at full gallop carry riders who aim their lances at rings hanging from posts.
St. Mary’s annual fair also features a country store, a snack bar, baked goods, a cake wheel, crafts, children’s games, a moon bounce, and a white elephant stand. Mass will be celebrated at 4 p.m. that afternoon at St. Mary’s Church, which is located at 18230 Barnesville Road.
People interviewed at St. Mary’s 150th annual Chicken Dinner in July 2025 described how that event has continued to be a fun tradition in that rural upper Montgomery County community from the decade after the Civil War to the digital age in the 21st century.
“It brings our community together,” said Father Tony D’Souza, St. Mary’s pastor, who began leading the parish that month.
The new pastor there said he was moved by people’s generosity. Nearby, parishioners and other volunteers were cooking chicken, serving dinners, packing carry-out meals, selling fresh produce at the country store and cakes and other baked goods, and pitching in at the white elephant stand. Volunteers from the Knights of Columbus were guiding guests to parking spots in the fields on the parish property.
Barry Stohlman, who has a construction business, was volunteering as the event’s manager. He noted that the volunteers there included parishioners and supporters “who want to help this parish and see it continue to thrive.”
The parish’s website notes that the country parish’s roots go back to a small mission chapel in that area in 1741. St. Mary’s was established as a parish in 1807, and the present red brick church was built in 1900. The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima for the Archdiocese of Washington was established there in 1959.
Barnesville reportedly changed hands between the Union and Confederate sides three times during the Civil War. The town’s website notes that “following a lengthy battle for the summit of nearby Sugarloaf Mountain, the Union army emerged victorious on Sept. 9, 1862.”
“The Barnesville picnic was an idea to bring everybody together for healing after the war,” Stohlman said.
He grew up in Bethesda, and he remembers attending the annual Barnesville event when he was growing up. About eight years ago, he and his family moved to the area.
“There is a history here going back of pastors and volunteers in the parish who felt this was an event that had a history they were very proud of, and they wanted to keep it going,” he said, adding that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the dinners continued as carry-0uts only.
Helping with the carry-out meals that day, as she has for four decades, was Linda Walker, who is retired after serving as a bookkeeper for a transmissions company in Rockville.
“My grandmother used to bring me here when I was little,” she said. Describing the camaraderie of the volunteers, Walker added, “We’re just a happy group. We try to make it fun.”
The volunteers there last summer also included Maggie Teleki, a student at the Brookewood School, an all-girls Catholic school in Kensington, who was then 15.
“It’s so cool how everyone’s working together,” said Teleki, who was bringing food to the diners at tables and cleaning tables.
Trish Dunn was volunteering in the kitchen, as she has for the past three decades. She noted that her husband was working at the stove, helping to barbecue the chicken.
“I do cold food – boiled potatoes, fresh parsley, green beans, coleslaw and apple sauce,” she said, adding that the apple sauce is made with a secret recipe.
Bill Lynch, a retired medical technologist who worked as a science lab supervisor at Montgomery College, has been a St. Mary’s parishioner for 50 years. He noted that back in the day, local farmers would provide the chickens and their own fresh vegetables.
“It’s just plain fun. It’s a lot of work,” said Lynch, who had helped manage the annual fundraiser for many years. “You get to see everybody. When I was growing up, the Barnesville picnic was the social event of the year.”
Outside, Larry Ryba, a website developer, was volunteering in the barbecue pit, flipping a large cast iron frame filled with chicken-halves.
“Today I’m cooking 1,200 halves of chickens,” said Ryba, who noted that he’s been attending St. Mary’s dinners since he was 10, following a family tradition that included his parents and grandparents who were parishioners.
“There’s something really special about this country church,” he said.
On another part of the parish grounds, his mother, Barbara Ryba, was volunteering at the country store as she has for the past 20 years, selling fresh produce including tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant and green peppers, along with blackberry and strawberry jam.
“It’s a legacy, (and) work for the Lord. These people come together every year to give back and serve the community,” said Barbara Ryba, who teaches first graders at Mary of Nazareth School in Darnestown.
Also helping with the carry-outs was Garland Johnson, a parishioner for about 60 years who is retired after owning a printing company. He said people keep coming to help out at the dinner because of what St. Mary’s Church means to them. The church, he said, is a place of “peace and tranquility.”
Describing what it means to him to attend Sunday Mass there, Johnson said, “It refreshes me for the coming week. I walk out feeling good, ready to face the world.”
Earlier, Father D’Souza expressed admiration for the faithful volunteers who serve at St. Mary’s Annual Chicken Dinner year after year, to support their country church.
“They do it because they love the Lord, and they love their parish,” he said.
(For information on St. Mary’s, its Annual Chicken Dinner, its Mass schedule, ministries and its outreach including its twinning program with a parish in Haiti, go to www.stmaryshrine.org.)
