Starting at 11:00 a.m. and extending until 7:00 p.m. for your $12, you get a full meal of their marinaded chicken, rice, beans and dessert.  Bring your friends and family.  

This is the church’s ninth year of holding chicken fests with the proceeds, said the church’s bookkeeper Diane Bauer, going toward “the expenses of running the church, to keep the church going.” She said the day had been made possible by an uncountable number of volunteers. 

Celia Montgomery, one of those volunteers, said the hope this year is to serve 2,500 meals.  The church sold 2,300 last year.

Her husband Steve Montgomery,  past mayor of Hope and current city director, said planning to serve the delicious meals is a result of weeks of planning.  Actual food preparation started late last week. “A lot of work goes into it. They started back on Thursday or Friday, getting everything together as far as the marinades.”

While the Mexican recipe chicken is certainly celebrated, Montgomery said no one should take the desserts for granted. “Another thing we do is the pound cakes.  We used to serve all sorts of different desserts, but now we go to a special pound cake recipe that one of the parishioners gave us. So we do that. That's popular as well.”

It would be a big challenge to find a better entire meal for $12 these days, let alone one that betters so many restaurants from here to Little Rock.  “For $12 it's a good deal. You get a drink, you get the whole meal, you get everything,” Montgomery said.

Our Lady of  Good Hope is on 315 South Walker and East Third.  Call ahead at 870-777-3202 for orders of ten or more.