“It’s just lovely to be able to come together to have this joyous celebration for our first harvest in the springtime. We have fellowship with family, friends and community members. I think its wonderful stepping foot on our historical Indian churches, our community buildings, and our tribal complexes and having conversations you have with elders and hearing our language and being able to work together for our community. It’s just such a wonderful event to be a part of and to attend.” – Shonday Randall
MVSKOKE RESERVATION – Spring marks the season of growth and renewal. For the Mvskokvlke, spring blooms wild onions found in meadows, woodlands and riversides that will be picked, cleaned and prepared for the hallowed tradition of wild onion dinners. Within the past three years Mvskoke citizen Shonday Randall has taken on the role of charting wild onion dinners on the Mvskoke reservation, as well as outside communities within the state.
Randall has been tracking wild onion dinners throughout Oklahoma for the past three years. After temporarily moving out of state for a couple years, she returned home to the reservation in 2022. Returning home allowed her to plug in with the community again, a factor that was missing abroad.
“The thing I missed the most while I was gone was my Indigenous people, my family and it was springtime so I was really missing those wild onion dinners.” Randall said.
Keeping an ear out for wild onion dinners to attend, Randall noticed there were many community fliers advertising wild onion dinners on Facebook. She did not want to miss a single one. Randall has experience as a higher education administrator, which equipped her with research skills, as well as providing resources with condensed information for others. In order to keep track of every dinner happening on the reservation, Randall organized dates, times, locations and prices on an Excel spreadsheet. What started as a way to stay on top of dinners, turned into providing a sturdy resource for community members seeking fellowship over wild onions.
“Rather than having to click on several different posts, or personal pages just to find that one dinner, I created a spreadsheet with all of the events that I can find and that way if I put them in chronological order maybe I can maximize the number of events we might be able to attend.” Randall said.
According to Randall the feedback was amazing. Not only did fellow Mvskoke citizens respond to the spreadsheet, many community members from other tribes around the state reached out too, contributing their own community dinner dates and times.
A Stroll down Wild Onion Memory Lane
Growing up in the northwest corner of the reservation, Randall’s family attended Broken Arrow Indian United Methodist Church. She is a descendant of the Childers and McIntosh families. As an adult Randall’s family attended Haikey Chapel United Methodist and helped out with their community wild onion dinners. Although community members may make event planning look easy, it takes a team to tackle the demands of an annual wild onion dinner.
“You learn about everything it takes to host one of these large dinners,” Randall said. “It takes all ages and all hands on deck. Everything from food prep in the days leading up to the event, setting up your outdoor cook site, the dining area, learning from the elders and all the men and women cooking these traditional dishes out on the open fires.”
Additionally, volunteers learn customer service skills including taking down orders, preparing to-go orders and busing tables. Oftentime these dinners can see long lines of people eager to eat.
When asked about good spots to pick wild onions, Randall had a few in mind. However they were not locations she was willing to disclose. According to Randall, preparing wild onions is a laborious task. It involves pulling, cleaning and chopping to turn into the final product.
Unfortunately, wild onion dinners have not been immune to rapidly rising inflation over the past five years. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the all items consumer price index shows food prices increased 2.5 percent from January of 2024 to January of 2025. Grocery store and restaurant prices are only projected to increase this year. Eggs, a common ingredient used to prepare wild onions, are currently seeing a shortage in the United States due to the current H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The shortage has increased egg prices 13.8 percent in January, after an 8.4 price increase in December 2024. Based on community flyers published on social media this season, wild onion dinner plates will range from $12-$30.
“We are seeing a little bit of a price increase on some of the adult and child dinners,” Randall said. “I have heard from three or four churches that are not going to be able to hold their event this year because of that reason.”
In spite of increasing prices, Randall still plans to attend a dinner this season. She remarked that the food she looks forward to most is a sweet and salty combination: salt meat and grape dumplings. Randall said that most churches would be open to accepting volunteers for anyone who would like to assist them and learn more about what it takes to host a wild onion dinner. A list of nearby wild onion dinners can be found below.
List of Wild Onions Dinners:
D D Etchieson Indian UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Thursday, March 6
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
412 West Seneca Street, Tahlequah, OK
$15/Plate
Pickett Chapel
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 8
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
17610 S. Hickory, Sapulpa, OK
Adults $15, Child $8
Eufaula Canadian Tribal Town
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 8
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
$12/plate, Children 12 & Under $6
800 Birkes Road, Eufaula, OK
Norman First American UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 8
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Adults $15, Children under 6 $8
1950 Beaumont Dr., Norman, OK
Mary Lee Clark UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
$15/plate
1100 Howard Dr., Del City, OK
Thlopthlocco UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Adults $12, Children 3-12 $6, Veterans $10 (with ID)
377187 E. 1170 Rd., Okemah, OK
Big Cussetah Methodist Church
Annual Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Adults $15, Children under 10 $8
20566 Prairie Bell Road, Morris, OK
Hominy Friends Meetinghouse
Annual Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
4 p.m.
510 Friends Road, Hominy, OK
Tulsa Indian UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
$15/plate
1901 N. College Ave., Tulsa, OK
Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 15
11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Adults $30
1615 N. Highway 88
American Indian Resource Center
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 20
$10/Plate
908 S. College Ave., Tahlequah, OK
Grace Indian Baptist Church
Wild Onion Dinner Fundraiser
Saturday, March 22
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
$13/Plate
3650 Enterprise Blvd., Durant, OK
Dallas Indian Mission UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
11 a.m.
$15/Plate
1203 Hollywood at Emmett, Dallas, TX
New Hope Indian UMC
Onion Dinner
Saturday, March 29
11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
910 W. 9th, Dewey, OK
Broken Arrow Indian UMC
Saturday, March 29
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
$15/Plate
20854 E. 141st St. S. Broken Arrow, OK
Springfield UMC
Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, April 5
N 3810 Rd. Okemah, OK
Achena Presbyterian Church
Old Fashion Wild Onion Dinner
Saturday, April 5
11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
35188 E W 131, Maud, OK
Mvskoke Media will continue to update the list. To share your event with us contact Braden Harper at bharper@mvskokemedia.com or call 918-732-7636.
Thank you so much for the hard work you put into this list.