• 75th Annual Barbecue 

    • Friday, November 1, 20241950BBQTicket
    • Take out: 8:00 am until sold out
    • Eat in: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
    • Price - TBD
    • Choose: Plate, Carton of barbecue or Carton of Stew

    The Unionville BBQ is the first Friday in November.
    Hundreds of volunteers working together each year make this enormous event possible!
    We would love to have you join our team this year!

    Unionville BBQ History

    • The first Unionville BBQ was in 1949
    • The first ticket cost was $1.00
    • Students, parents, staff and community members all contributed cabbage for slaw, live chickens for stew and vegetables
    • The first year 325 pounds of pork was cooked over an open fire in a field (today - 15,000 pounds cooked)
    • It was cooked over open coals and 15 foot shovels were used to keep the coal churned and burning
    • The first section of the current BBQ pits was built in 1952

    Student Involvement

    • Ticket Sales - students are rewarded for effortsUnionville Fire Dept.
    • Move Boxes - students in fifth grade haul boxes from the Ag building to be used in the take out lines
    • Fifth graders also help sell desserts and drinks in the gym eat in area on the day of the BBQ
    • Learning opportunities in the classroom
    • Mini Field Trip - Walk around the pits as the BBQ is cooking to observe the process
    • Art - Advertisement Posters 

    Community Involvement

    Unionville Fire Department provides security  and puts out traffic signs such as eat in, take out signs placed at intersections in the community.

     
    Volunteer Opportunities
    • Bag Bread
    • Warm/Season Pork
    • Cook Pork
    • Friday Cleanup
    • Make Slaw
    • Make Brunswick Stew
    • Pork on Pits
    • Prep Take-Outs
    • Serve in Gym
    • Thursday Gym CleanupBBQpits
    • Chip & Cool
    • Saturday Cleanup
    • Work Take Out
    • Pack Staff Orders
    • 14,500 pounds of Boston Butt ordered from Institutional Food House (IFH)
    • Transportation after cooking
    • Once the pork is fully cooked, it is transported to the gym for chipping and cooling.
    • From there it is put on the ref. truck in bread trays to be cooled
    • Friday morning it is moved again to the gym kitchen where it is reheated and seasoned. Once the pork is seasoned it is ready for packing.

     

    Cooking Timeline:

    Wednesday night 6:00pm

    • Start the fire and put coals in the pits
    • Mop down the pits with high temperature vegetable oil
    • Pits are covered and the racks burned for cleaning
    • Pits are fired up again to dry out the pits afte the cleaning process

    Wednesday night 10:00pm

    • Pit crew leaves
    • Two additional people come in at 2:00 am
    • Pits are fired again, so the coals will be ready the next morning

    Thursday morning 4:30amBBQ Prep

    • Boston Butts are placed on the pits for cooking
    • 18-20 volunteers show up to help with this process
    • Pork cooks for 4 hours and then turned
    • Total cooking time is 8-10 hours