SAHS 2003 Chicken Barbecue Summary

This year's chicken barbecue was a great success! Our total profit was just over $1500. The fire was started at about 5:00am by Bill Vinzant, who tended and stoked the pit until it was ready to cook on at approximately 8:30 am. This year, we purchased whole chickens as Liz and Charlie Rogalia kindly offered to split them for us. Charlie has a lot of experience as a butcher and was ready for the chicken when it arrived. In no time at all, we had 352 halves ready for the fire. Liz and Susan Underwood packaged the giblets into bags, which we offered for sale. By splitting the chickens ourselves, we saved enough money on the per pound price to pay for the newspaper advertising! Thanks, Liz and Charlie! While the pit crew was cooking chicken, a total of 52 pies donated by 25 of our finest bakers were recorded and displayed. The weather cooperated with us this year and business was brisk. About 40% of orders were for dinners, the remaining for halves. The kitchen helpers were very busy, and served customers as fast as chicken was available. We were sold out by about 2:00 pm.

Some observations and suggestions by our members: the donation of home-baked pies by our members continues to be a very big draw to our humble event...thanks to one and all who baked for us. The addition of dinners added substantially to our total receipts, and we received a number of compliments on how good the cole slaw tasted. We're making progress on reducing the confusion inside the Grange when serving, selling and taking money. We should include drinks as part of the dinner price, particularly since the milk was donated. We advertised widely this year including a free radio spot on WSYR-AM, which probably contributed to our quick sell-out. If you have a suggestion for improving the barbecue for next year, please let us know.

It is my opinion that the chicken barbecue tradition and the sale of home- baked pies exhibit widespread appeal to our membership and neighbors because (1) it is inclusive, requiring the assistance of a large number of folks who want to help in some way; (2), it is doable and not terribly onerous because we can rely on the talents of many; and (3) it is fun, festive and fosters a sense of community. Thanks to everyone for their individual contributions to our success. We couldn't do it without you!

Special thanks to those who made additional donations: Brenda Collard (tickets), Jack and Fran Hole (charcoal), Curt and Sonia Ledermann (wood), Hank and Char Keller (wood), Ron and Carol Bourque (wood), Phil and Lauri Clark (wood), Dave and Marg Myers (wood), Chris and Rick Fesko (barbecue pit and racks), the Borodino United Methodist Church (access to the park), Byrne Dairy (milk), P&C Foods (ice), and Ruth Vinzant (sauce, detailed notes, advice, inspiration).

Submitted by Brian Underwood, 7/03 and revised 9/03.

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Spafford Area Historical Society
P.O. Box 250
Marietta, New York 13110