The Unionville Barbeque: The history behind it and my experience helping the community!

The Unionville Barbeque is a Union County staple that takes place every first Friday in November. It's the perfect way to experience food, fun, and community in the fall season! But what is the history behind this tradition? How has it become the largest fundraiser in North Carolina? Come with me behind the scenes as I volunteer at the barbeque and walk you through the amazing past this seasonal event has.

The History

The first Unionville Barbeque took place in 1949, and tickets only cost $1. Students, parents, and staff contributed cabbage for slaw, live chickens for the stew, and lots of vegetables. The first year, only 325 pounds of barbeque were cooked in an open field (for reference, we cook about 15,000 pounds now!). It was cooked over open coals, and 15-foot shovels were used to keep coals churned and burning. After three long years of doing this, Unionville then built it's first barbeque pit in 1952. This year was it's 76th anniversary and we profited about $85,000!

Volunteering

I go to Piedmont High School and every year about 60 students are selected to come and volunteer at the barbeque. When we are selected, we are then given specific jobs and are expected to be there from 7am to 3pm. I was assigned to takeouts, meaning that I had to pack boxes filled with barbeque, slaw, and stew. All of us assigned to takeouts had to work extremely fast because customers rolled in fast and the orders piled up quickly. We even had someone come in with 200 tickets for boxes of barbeque! We all got very tired, but we all understood the importance of helping our community on this special event.

Here is a list of some of the available jobs to do to help volunteer:

• Bag bread

• Warm/Season pork

• Cook pork

• Make slaw

• Make Brunswick stew

• Pork on pits

• Takeouts

• Serve in gym

Community

In the end, the Unionville Barbeque is a truly special part of our community and genuinely brings us together. Every family loves going out to support the elementary school and having a fun time eating good food together. Events like this really show what makes our community so unique: compassion, love, and commitment. There are about 800 volunteers, and 19,000 tickets were sold, showing how much the community really appreciates this lovely tradition!

Here is a picture of me and my dad getting barbeque after we finished volunteering!