On Sunday, the 64th annual chicken barbecue, hosted by the Mt. Pleasant Lions Club, turned out better than anticipated.
“We sold more chickens than we were expecting to,” King Lion, Ken Hisey said. “But it’s still good to help out various people in the community. We’ll take notes on this, and see how we can keep improving next year.”
As King Lion, Hisey oversaw the operation to make sure everything ran as smoothly as possible.
“We had a great day weather-wise,” he said. “From our standpoint, it wasn’t too hot or windy. Sometimes the weather can affect the cooking process, but today the chickens looked excellent coming off of the grill.”
The event took place at Island Park where customers pulled in, handed in tickets, and drove away with a chicken dinner complete with a baked potato, applesauce, a roll with butter and a cookie from Robaire’s Bakery.
“I think it was a superb turnout,” Chairman of the chicken committee, John Scheide said. “Our volunteers make this whole thing work. Our club has about 50 members and we bring in about 100 volunteers.”
The funds raised will be donated to various local charities and projects.
“The overall goal of today’s event is to raise money,” he said. “So that we can provide a local service in vision, audiology and communications.”
In his eight years as chairman, Scheide said this was the most chickens he has ever sold.
“We went through about 4,200 chicken halves,” he said. “We actually had to stop our on-site sales at 400 because we were going through so much product. Going forward we encourage people to buy the pre-sale tickets. It helps us out and it’s a little bit cheaper.”
Some of the Lions Club members and the volunteers began setting up the area around 6:30 in the morning.
“Volunteer effort is very important,” he said. “It takes a community to have a chicken barbecue, and it was a great event. I have to thank the Mt. Pleasant community for their support. That’s what makes this what it is.”
Leftover food goes to the Women’s Aid Service and the Isabella County community soup kitchen.
Those interested in becoming Lions members are encouraged to email John at scheidejohn@aol.com.