Visitors to the 2023 Northwest Ag Show mingle and talk to sponsors at the Oregon State Fair and Expo Center in Salem. The 2024 show also will feature a country dance and barbecue.

SALEM — This year’s Northwest Ag Show is shaping up to be one of a kind. Yes, it’ll feature vendors and exhibitors offering the latest in ag equipment and services.

And yes, it’ll feature those all-important CORE credits from Oregon and Washington.

But the Northwest Ag Show will break the mold with its first-ever Boots & Bounty Barn Dance and Barbecue. It’ll feature some of the best barbecue this side of Kansas City and country music that’ll get your toes a-tapping.

Better yet, the profits from the dance and barbecue — and a silent auction — will go to the Oregon Agricultural Trust, which partners with farmers and ranchers to protect farmland for the future and helps them with succession planning.

It’ll be a good time for a good cause.

“The goal we’re after is a sense of community,” said Anne Long, the events manager and ad director for the Capital Press.

The ag show, which will run Wednesday through Friday, Jan. 17-19, at the Oregon State Fair and Expo Center in Salem, will feature more than 100 vendors. It opens each day at 9 a.m. Admission to the show is free, and parking costs $5.

The show will offer 4 CORE credits from Oregon and Washington state OSHA in morning and afternoon sessions on Jan. 17 in Cascade Hall.

At 6 p.m. Jan. 18 is the debut of the Boots & Bounty Barn Dance and Barbecue Benefit.

At 6:30 p.m. is a line dance group lesson presented by the Outlaw Shine band from Eugene. After that, the band will fill Columbia Hall with the best in country music.

Then, starting at 7 p.m., is a barbecue buffet featuring McKillip’s Catering of St. Paul. The award-winning food will be cooked on site, so be prepared to tuck in, Long said.

This year’s Northwest Ag Show is made possible by title sponsor Coastal Farm & Home and these major sponsors:

• Kubota Tractor Corp.

• George Packing Co. and Northwest Hazelnut

• Ernst Irrigation

• Energy Trust of Oregon

• Oregon Department of Energy

• Oregon Equipment Sales/Linn Benton Tractor

• AgWest Farm Credit

• Natural Resources Conservation Service

• McKillip’s Catering

Location: Oregon State Fair and Expo Center, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem

Date: Jan. 17-19

Time: Wednesday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Admission: Free

Parking: $5

Website: https://northwestagshow.com/

Email: events@eomediagroup.com

Phone: 800-882-6789