There are plenty of places to eat when attending the Wild Rice Festival. It begins Friday with the Sportsmans Club Turtle Stew Feed. Getting the turtles and cooking the stew was done by members of the club. In 1969 it was announced that 80 pounds of snapping turtle meat was not enough to feed the crowd.

St. Mary's Catholic Church and United Methodist Church of Deer River have prepared dinners since the beginning of the Wild Rice Festival. Saturday was the day for the Methodist Church chicken dinner. (That has now been changed to a luncheon with wild rice hot dish and choice of pie.) On Sunday it was a turkey with all the trimmings dinner at the Catholic church. In 1962 the church reported 350 pounds of turkey were consumed by 750 people. The Methodists served 460 chicken dinners that year.

There has always been food booths, one operated by the wives of Lions Club members. Later this group formed a Lioness Club and they are now The Avenue of the Pines Lions Club. They still run the hamburger booth at the Wild Rice Festival. Numerous other organizations have booths or provide food at other locations. Whether you need a hamburger, Indian taco, a soft drink, something from the Vets beer garden or simply a drink of cold water, you can find it there at the Wild Rice Festival.