Staff Report
It’s barbecue time again! The annual, and always popular, Adams County Junior Fair Beef BBQ is coming to the Ohio Valley Career and Technical Center in West Union on Thursday, September 3from 4:30-7 p.m. The Beef BBQ is again a drive-thru event and you can purchase your tickets as you drive through the line.
Did you ever wonder, though, what it takes to prepare and feed 1,800 – 2,200 people a meal in just two and a half hours? The Beef BBQ takes a tremendous amount of planning which begins months before the actual event. Then two weeks before the actual BBQ, The FFA members from the CTC gather equipment, split six cord of wood into long firewood, get supplies out of storage, begin to advertise, put out 50 yard signs plus a banner on the courthouse square, run newspapers ads and contact C103 Radio.
The week of the BBQ is super busy and begins with the CTC Food Service Class dipping 600 pounds of cole slaw, cooking and dipping 132 gallons of baked beans and organizing for BBQ Night. The Manchester, West Union and North Adams FFA each spend one evening after school splitting firewood while the county highway department digs the BBQ pit (46 feet long, 4 feet deep, 4 feet wide) and hauls sand and wood as needed.
The Wednesday of BBQ Week begins with the split wood being placed into the pit, then a phone call to 911 to inform them not to send the fire department after the fire is lit. The wood pit will burn from 4:30-10:30 p.m., with wood added to the fire every 30-50 minutes. At the same time, a group of volunteer adults are at the CTC Food service Lab, trimming and wrapping 1,500 pounds of choice beef rounds.
At 10:30 p.m., the fire is left to burn down to two sets of coals while the CTC FFA members and the adult crew get a food break. At 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning the pit is raked to level the two sets of coals and an inch of sand is spread over the bed of coals with the wrapped packages of meat laid in the pit on top of the sand. Steel fence posts are placed across the pit and barn tin is placed on the posts and a foot of dirt is placed on top of the tin to seal the pit. At 3 a.m., everyone finally gets to go home.
At 6 a.m. on BBQ day, with not much rest, the pit is checked and any cracks in the dirt are covered to prevent heat from escaping. During the day, the CTC FFA and Food Service students clean up and set up for serving the BBQ later that day. Two tents are set up in the CTC parking lot for serving the meals to those who will dive through. At 2:30, the Peebles FFA members uncover the pit and the meat is delivered to the Food Service lab where it is unwrapped, sent to the meat slicers, and then on to the adults who are making over 4,000 sandwiches.
After the sandwiches are made, another group of adults puts the meals together in “to-go” boxes and taken outside to the tents to be served. The staff of the National Bank will be busy collecting money and counting tickets all evening and several county officials will help out by walking the line of cars selling tickets.
Even though the serving is over, the work is not. Claen up begins with equipment being cleaned and stored away, yard signs are picked up, thank you notes are posted, the money is deposited in the bank and notes are made for the next year’s BBQ.
After the bills are paid, the profits from the BBQ are left in the bank to be used for improvements for the 2027 Junior Fair buildings. Over the years, the BBQ has donated over $250,000 to the Junior Fair.