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Saturday's BBQ to help fund new addition

Canada firefighters' fund-raiser includes raffle, cakewalk

By Lynn Hotaling
Canada firefighters Canada firefighters and community volunteers spent Friday and Saturday setting trusses and putting shingles on a new addition to their fire department building. Department members are raising about $50,000 of the $75,000 needed to construct the new space and are providing about 50 percent of the labor required to erect it, said Canada Fire Chief Steve Luker. The addition will include bays to house the department's two new trucks as well as a 1,400-square-foot addition to Canada's community center. Canada's firefighters will sponsor their 11th annual barbecue Saturday night. Proceeds from the popular event will be used to fund the new edition as well as department equipment needs, Luker said. Canada Volunteer Fire Department will hold its annual barbecue and cakewalk Saturday, Sept. 15, beginning at 5 p.m.

This year's barbecue marks the fund-raiser's 11th anniversary, and the event gets larger every year, said Canada Fire Chief Steve Luker.

"We started with one pig 11 years ago and now we're up to five or six," said Luker, who raises the pork for the barbecue at his home on Cold Creek in Canada community. "Two years ago we cooked four hogs and sold out in three hours."

Firefighters will slow-cook the meat all night long, Luker said, using a combination of charcoal and hickory wood.

Canada firefighters Neil Dawson of Tuckasegee will direct the cooking and make the sauce; his wife, Peggy, will prepare the hush puppies from an old Dawson family recipe.

Dawson said he is carrying on a family tradition of "cooking pigs to help the community." When he was growing up in LaGrange, in Lenoir County, his father was the chef for various local fund-raisers.

Canada's dinner will feature "whole-hog, hand-chopped, Eastern-style barbecue," the head cook said. The sauce will be patterned after the "down East" variety, which is vinegar based.

Firefighters plan to cook about 1,200 pounds of meat Friday night.

The menu will include pork barbecue, baked beans, coleslaw and hush puppies, with takeouts available.

Live music will be provided by the Fiddling Dills Sisters and Cullowhee Valley Boys and the Redeemed Quartet from Waynesville. The Rev. Jim Ed Powell will direct the cakewalk, and donations of cakes will be appreciated, Luker said.

Firefighters are currently selling tickets for two fund-raising raffles, with winners to be chosen during Saturday's barbecue. Chances are available on a Log Cabin quilt, made by the Carolina Quilters and donated to the fire department. Tickets are also being sold for a second raffle with multiple prizes including a chainsaw, rifle and a $100 gift certificate to Jimmy's Mini Market in Tuckasegee.

Proceeds will be used to fund fire department equipment needs and to help pay for the department's new addition.

Though the department received $25,000 toward the cost of the addition from county commissioners, the firefighters must raise an additional $50,000 to complete the building. The cost would be much higher without the amount of labor donated by firefighters and other community volunteers, Luker said.

Fire department members and community volunteers spent Friday and Saturday setting trusses and roofing the addition, Luker said.

For more information about this weekend's fund-raisers, call Luker at 293-3686.

Back to Archive: 09/13/01.