A Small Town Celebrates a Golden Anniversary

This weekend marked the 50th anniversary of Cutchogue's Annual Chicken Barbeque. For 50 years, our local volunteer fire department has held a chicken barbeque on one of the last Saturdays in August. The Chicken Barbeque is Cutchogue's Bastille Day – it is a highly celebrated event that feels like a celebration of independence, but probably really only symbolizes the last hurrah of the summer.

Each year the Fire Department sells 3,000 tickets. The tickets are sold on one day, for just a few hours, a few months prior to the actual barbeque. A ticket is an extremely hot commodity. It is more than just an admission to the barbeque; it is a rite of passage, a status symbol, and perhaps a true indicator that you are "in" in Cutchogue.

For decades, the barbeque has been a small town event that draws a very local crowd. In the past, the barbeque was poorly attended and forced the Fire Department to go door-to-door in the community in an attempt to sell tickets. However, in the last 10 years, the Chicken Barbeque has tured into what the Hampton Classic might be to the Hamptons. When Martha Stewart turned up at the barbeque a few years ago the tone of our local barbeque was permanently changed. Fortunately, the crowd is still very much a local one, but it wouldn't be uncommon to see a food writer for the Times savoring some chicken and local corn.

On top of all the festivities, the tailgating before entering into the tent to feast, or the endless number of conversations with old friends, the barbeque is really all about the food. A ticket gets you a half of a chicken, unlimited local corn on the cob, potato salad, fresh local tomato and cucumber salad, buckets of beer and ice cream with fresh local peaches. It is truly a night of indulgence. The chicken is grilled to perfection with a barbeque sauce that has been a trade secret for 50 years. The barbeque sauce recipe is analogous to a fraternity ritual - the volunteer firemen take the recipe with them to their graves.

The chickens are barbequed by the hundreds over huge open grills in the fire department's parking lot. Days before the actual barbeque, the Ladies Auxiliary shuck thousands of ears of corn, peel thousands of potatoes for the potato salad, and peel and chop thousands of cucumbers for the tomato-cucumber salad. Each year, the Chicken Barbeque lives up to its reputation. It is an amazing night because each element of the barbeque – the food, the drinks, the people and the ambiance – come together in perfect harmony. It was truly a night of celebration and I cannot wait until next year.

Until next time…