NORTH BEND, Ore. - St. Patrick's Day is still a few days away, but one local church kicked off the festivities a little bit early, hosting their annual St. Patrick's Day dinner over the weekend.

Folks were piling into Holy Redeemer Church in North Bend on Saturday to help celebrate the holiday.

Featuring traditional Irish food including corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, and stew, the event takes a lot of preparation.

"Some people have been planning this for almost a month. And in our smaller area, it's pretty hard to get certain items that you want to use, so people have been thinking about this and thinking about next year all the time," says Organizer Ron Horbatiuk.

The church's St. Patrick's Day celebration has been held at Holy Redeemer every year for the past 19 years, and Horbatiuk says it's the people that put it on, that make it such a success.

"We have 50, 60, 70 people getting involved behind the scenes, working all week long or even before that."

The money raised from the event goes toward supporting youth programs at the church.