Volunteer fire department hosts biannual BBQ; donates to cystic fibrosis research

CORRECTION: The original online version of this article, and the version that appeared in the March 16, 2022 print issue of the Anson Record, incorrectly stated that the Gulledge Volunteer Fire Department’s BBQ itself was held in memory of Casey Tucker and that the money raised from the sale of BBQ was donated on Tucker’s behalf, when in fact the proceeds from the BBQ support the operations of the department only. The proceeds from the t-shirts that are sold at the BBQ are sent to a nonprofit each year, and this year those proceeds were donated in memory of Casey Tucker. The article has been updated to reflect this.

WADESBORO — Gulledge Volunteer Fire Department hosted their biannual BBQ fundraiser last weekend which serves to support the department’s operations and is an opportunity to support local nonprofits.

The department sells t-shirts at the event and each year donates the proceeds to an organization of their choosing that benefits the county. This year, they donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in memory of a friend and supporter of the department, Casey Tucker, who suffered from cystic fibrosis and recently passed away due to complications during a double lung transplant.

Gulledge FD Chaplain Mark Perko said that the department has hosted the BBQ for 40 years. Previously, the t-shirt funds have been donated to domestic violence support programs and the HOPE Pregnancy Resource Center, among other organizations.

In preparation, they cooked 1,700 pounds of pork and 340 chicken halves in their smoke pit over a weeklong period. They also served beans, rolls, drinks, and baked goods. According to Perko, it takes a lot of labor hours to make it happen — fire department members cooked the meals and Deep Creek Baptist Church volunteers helped serve.

Last weekend’s BBQ was the first time they could be in person again since the pandemic, and they had a record-breaking turnout. The expected start time was 11 a.m., but people were lined up all the way out the door and well into the parking lot starting at 10:30.

“This is the first time in forty years we’ve ever had this many people come and sold out in two-and-a-half hours,” Perko said. “We normally just stop selling around 5 or 6 p.m. just so we can clean up and go home, and we always have a little bit leftover, but we completely ran out at 1:30. We [also] sold all the t-shirts we were selling.

“We were just blown away by the crowds.”