The oldest barbecue tradition in America, the community barbecue, continues largely unnoticed in churches, clubs and lodge halls. Many of the pits are ancient, the cooking methods are traditional and the barbecue is generally excellent. Check out a community barbecue near you, it’s worth the trip! If you love to barbecue, why not volunteer to help keep this tradition alive?
Please post additional listings and information about community barbecues in the comments section of this website so we can update the calendar.
Texas
Cat Springs Volunteer Fire Department BBQ
3rd Saturday of April
(more info requested)
Annual Frydek Grotto Celebration
Last Sunday of April
St. Mary’s Catholic Church Grounds, FM 1458
124 Zaruba Road, Sealy
979-885-3131
Mass 9:30am
BBQ 11:00am Brisket, chicken and homemade Czech sausage
Music, Auction, Cake Walk, Kids Activities
Get there early if you want to buy homemade kolaches–they sell out fast!
10th Annual Fruehling Saengerfest
Fourth Sunday of April
Concordia Hall, 952 S. Tesch, Bellville
For more information please contact Robert Herridge 979-865-0935
Sponsored by Bellville Lions Club & Bluebonnet Chapter of the Texas German Society.
BBQ 11:00am Chicken & Sausage Dinner $9.00 per plate.
St. John’s BBQ
1st Sunday of May
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Bellville
Peters Mother’s Day BBQ
Peters-Hacienda Community Hall
756 Trenckmann Rd., Sealy
BBQ 11:30am Beef, Pork
Cake Walk, live auction, beanbag tournament at 2 pm
Information: 281 898 1346
Cat Springs Dance Hall BBQ
1st Sunday in June
Cat Springs Agricultural Society Hall
13035 Hall Rd. Cat Spring
BBQ 11am Beef, Mutton, Pork
The oldest community barbecue in Texas, this one goes back 150 years.
Information: 979 865 2540
Dumas Dogie Days
2nd Saturday of June
McDade Park, Dumas, Texas
BBQ 11:00 am tickets are $8.00 until day of BBQ, then go
up to $9.00 the day of BBQ.
7600 pounds of meat cooked in a covered pit with 15 cords of wood for 24 hrs.
40 gallons of barbecue sauce, 800 pounds of beans 200 pounds of onions, 228 gallon cans of peaches
300 loaves of bread. Also 14.500 hamburgers are served at the hamburger stand.
Approximately 5,000 to 6,000 people are fed at the barbecue every year.
First Dogie Days was held in 1946.
Millheim Harmonie Verein’s Annual Father’s Day Barbecue
Father’s Day
Millheim Harmonie Verein’s Dance Hall
3384 FM 949 Road (15 miles east of Cat Springs)
Sealy, Texas
BBQ 11:00 am Beef, Mutton, and Pork.
Cake Wheel, Silent Auction, Music
One of the last of the old-fashioned open pits!
Don’t miss this one!
Information: 979-877-4408
Kenney 4th of July BBQ
Kenney Agricultural Society Hall, Keeney, Texas
(Off 36 north of Bellville)
July 4th
BBQ 11:00 am Beef, Mutton and Pork
Plates, $10 with sides and desserts
(Meats also available by the pound)
Cake Wheel, Silent Auction, Live Music
This barbecue is over 100 years old.
For info: call Keeney Post Office (979) 865-0329
Bellville Volunteer Fire Department BBQ
3rd Friday in August
(more info requested)
Mentz BBQ
1st Sunday in October
St. Roch Catholic Church
1600 Frelsburg Road
Alleyton (former town of Mentz)
(979) 732-3460
(info requested)
Sons of Hermann Washington Lodge BBQ
Third Sunday in October
Sons of Hermann Lodge
9499 Fm 1370 Washington, Texas
BBQ 11 am Brisket and Pork Butt, homemade dessert table
Cake auction, raffle
Come early and see the wonderful old BBQ pit in action!
North Carolina
Mallard Creek Church BBQ (since 1929)
Fourth Thursday in October
Mallard Creek Presbyterian Church Community Hall
11400 Mallard Creek Road
Charlotte, North Carolina
BBQ 10 am Pulled Pork Plate or 3 sandwiches $9
The phone number at the Community House is 704-547-0323 during preparation and on the day of the Barbecue.
In 2011, over 20,000 people attended, consuming 14 thousand pounds of pulled pork at $9 a plate.
Volunteers: call Bill Wood at 704-756-0943 or Charles Kimrey at 704-408-6722.
Poplar Presbyterian BBQ
First Thursday in November
6841 Poplar Tent Presbyterian Road Concord
North Carolina
704-786-1603
California
Annual Bennett Valley Grange Community Barbecue (since 1872)
First Sunday in June
Bennett Valley Grange
Santa Rosa, CA
Phone: (707) 546-2165
BBQ: Noon Open cinderblock pit, half chickens, beef tri-tip, beans, cole slaw, bread and homemade desserts.
Music, petting zoo, games, silent auction, Bennett Valley Fire Dept Trucks display.
