Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Bly heads effort father began
HARRINGTON—Attendees at the 76th Annual Fall Festival Saturday, Sept. 23 will likely be eager to enjoy a Lions Club BBQ lunch that begins serving at noon.
But what those attendees may not know is that the same family has overseen smoking the rounds used for that lunch since Fall Festival began.
Wes Bly took over the project that his son Dennis now operates in 1946, one year after the Lions Club was chartered.
“They knew my dad had taken animal science and meats down at Wazzu,” Dennis Bly said. “I came back to the farm in 1975 and by the mid-90s he finally said, ‘you’re in charge.’”
While Bly oversees the process, it is a multi-man effort to prepare the meat. Don Timm helps order the cherrywood ordered from an orchard north of Wenatchee, and four or five guys pick it up in their farm trucks every year, Bly said.
The rest of the work starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday night, the night before Fall Festival. The Lions fill the pit dug many years ago outside the city bus barn about halfway full with wood, and begin to burn it to coals.
Meanwhile, Bly takes a crew to Davenport Family Foods to pick up the pre-ordered meat. This year, the Lions ordered 430 pounds to feed the masses.
At about 10 p.m., the crew rakes out any chunks of wood that hasn’t fully burned to coal, then covers the wood with sand to make sure no flames come in direct contact with the meat.
They then put the meat, which is carefully wrapped in plastic cooking bags to keep the juices inside, on top of the first layer of sand in about 12-pound chunks.
“For many years, we put the meat inside pillowcases,” Bly said. “But the juice would seep through.”
Once the meat is set on the first layer of sand, it is covered with steel covers, followed by another layer of sand.
“By 11 p.m., we’re done for the night,” Bly said.
The meat stays slow-cooking in the pit overnight until 11:30 a.m. the Saturday of Fall Festival…just 30 minutes to spare before it is sliced and served hot and ready to hungry Festival attendees.
“It’s some of the best BBQ out there,” Bly said. “But that’s just my opinion, of course.”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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