69th Annual Crane Broiler Festival Held
September 3, 2020
The annual tradition of the Crane Broiler Festival had its share of challenges this year. The number of attendees were expected to be down, due to the pandemic. This, plus mother nature giving us some much needed rain on Saturday, brought things to an early close. Nathan Quick, the event coordinator, has been involved with the event for the past twenty-five years. He stated, “we are just glad we were able to have it”. Safety precautions were put in place such as temperature checks of personnel dealing with cooking or serving food. Masks and gloves were also used by everyone serving. Planning the event starts a year ahead, with final preparations beginning eleven days prior. “This is usually how I spend some of my vacation days”, says Quick, “I am just a part of the equation”. We are so fortunate to have such great volunteers. Each area of the event has a chairperson that takes great pride in doing their part making the event a success.”
Friday morning the smell of chicken being cooked covered the park. Head cook, Roger Malcom states, “we start the fire pit about 8:00 a.m. and chickens were on about 9.00.” An hour and forty-five minutes later they are ready to unload. He explained it takes six people to load the racks, five to cook and six to unload. About 50 birds are cooked in each rack with 10 to 12 racks being used at one time. About 4,700 birds and six pallets for charcoal were ordered for the weekend events.
Friday went as planned with 2,200 being cooked. The night was filled with kids laughing and squealing while riding the carnival rides. The music, beginning with the Dacomo Kids then ending with Travis Scott and the Playboys, was a wonderful way to sit, relax and enjoy their music. Of course, one of the main events happening for the evening was the Miss Slick Chick contest, which was coordinated by Tia Burcham. See photos on page 8.
Saturday is when mother nature made her appearance. The pit was fired up at 8:00 a.m. and about 600 birds were loaded. Roger kept the first round small due to the weather concerns. The plan was to cook about 2500 for the second day event. Shortly after the parade the wind and rain came. The show cars sitting on the baseball field had to be vacated and many of the vendors started packing up. Once the rain let up Roger put on about 400 more birds to take care of the crowd on hand. More bad weather was expected for later in the day so Nathan made the call to cancel. The remainder 1500 birds were sold uncooked.
Volunteers are always an important part of making the event happen every year. A big thank you goes to our local FFA chapter led by Ag teacher, Jessica Spencer. Also, we are grateful to the Crane basketball players for their meal delivery service to our area residents. These young adults are the future of keeping the event going for the years to come.
Friday morning the smell of chicken being cooked covered the park. Head cook, Roger Malcom states, “we start the fire pit about 8:00 a.m. and chickens were on about 9.00.” An hour and forty-five minutes later they are ready to unload. He explained it takes six people to load the racks, five to cook and six to unload. About 50 birds are cooked in each rack with 10 to 12 racks being used at one time. About 4,700 birds and six pallets for charcoal were ordered for the weekend events.
Friday went as planned with 2,200 being cooked. The night was filled with kids laughing and squealing while riding the carnival rides. The music, beginning with the Dacomo Kids then ending with Travis Scott and the Playboys, was a wonderful way to sit, relax and enjoy their music. Of course, one of the main events happening for the evening was the Miss Slick Chick contest, which was coordinated by Tia Burcham. See photos on page 8.
Saturday is when mother nature made her appearance. The pit was fired up at 8:00 a.m. and about 600 birds were loaded. Roger kept the first round small due to the weather concerns. The plan was to cook about 2500 for the second day event. Shortly after the parade the wind and rain came. The show cars sitting on the baseball field had to be vacated and many of the vendors started packing up. Once the rain let up Roger put on about 400 more birds to take care of the crowd on hand. More bad weather was expected for later in the day so Nathan made the call to cancel. The remainder 1500 birds were sold uncooked.
Volunteers are always an important part of making the event happen every year. A big thank you goes to our local FFA chapter led by Ag teacher, Jessica Spencer. Also, we are grateful to the Crane basketball players for their meal delivery service to our area residents. These young adults are the future of keeping the event going for the years to come.