The Checotah Landmark Preservation Society held their Annual All-You-Can-Eat Hobo Dinner at the Katy Depot on Saturday night, October 19.

The doors opened at 5 p.m. for locals to come get a bowl of stew or beans and cornbread before the bidding began for the pie auction.

State Rep. Tim Turner served as the auctioneer for the evening as Hoss Durrett along with his daughter Kamber, showed the crowd the delicious desserts they were bidding on for a good cause – the restoration and upkeep of the Katy Depot.

Several local cooks helped with the meal for the night, which included Karen King-Hyatt making the flavorful beans, LaDonna Rhodes making the savory stew and Jean Gawf making three different kinds of cornbread. Checotah Perk was also gracious enough to provide the tea.

Several locals helped to make the auction successful, including the Paul Henry Carr family who came to be a part of the dinner and auction.

However, it was the delicious homemade pies (chocolate pecan, banana cream and coconut) of Karen Hyatt that started off the bidding plus there were fried pies of Lizzie Pebbles of assorted flavors. Of course, Imogene Duvall made her delight-ful pecan pie muffins and pecan brownies that she’s known for, and the last batch of Mandy Brown’s no bake cookies got bid up to over $200 just because the founding members of the “No Quitters Club” were in the house. Turner enjoyed bidding up Hoss Durrett because he knew how much he wanted the no bake cookies.

A silent auction also went on until the end of the dinner when the highest bidders were announced.

The auction raised over $2,000 and a great time of fellowship and fun bidding was had by all.

CLPS would like to thank all the volunteers, cooks, sponsors, businesses, individuals and bidders who helped make the night a success.