Page 6 - FF2024

Page 6

Rotary Club member Ron Schmyr, brandishing the seasoning shaker, and his entire family have been volunteering at the
Sunday Chicken Barbeque for more than 15 years.
Family affair

Rotary volunteer and family have been at grills for 15 years

The Rotary Chicken Barbeque dur- nated by the barbeque for decades as He has eagerly maintained that posi-
ing the Plymouth Fall Festival is a real they live close to downtown Plymouth tion for more than 15 years and has
family affair for Ron Schmyr and his and the enticing aroma on Fall Festival been joined by two of his sons-in-law,
entire family. Sunday would fill the air. “The kids his daughters and soon, he expects,
Schmyr, 65, his wife, seven children grew up smelling the chicken,” said. three of his 11-year-old grandchildren.
and his sons-in-law have been volun- Schmyr said that as a young man he A sense of being able to give something
teering at the Sunday barbeque for wanted to be part of something as spe- back to the community is ingrained in
more than 15 years and they will be cial as the barbeque, but his business his family, Schmyr said. “This is a big
there again this year, manning the bar- was out of town and his time was limit- deal and they are chomping at the bit to
beque grills as nearly 8,500 chickens ed. be part of it.”
are cooked to perfection. When he moved his financial servic- He explained that when his family
“It's amazing to me that decades ago es business to downtown Plymouth, moved to Plymouth from downtown
some engineer figured out how hot the however, a neighbor, Win Schrader, sug- Detroit decades ago, he was amazed
grills had to be, how far from the coals gested he join the Rotary Club. Schmyr that a place like Plymouth even exist-
the chickens should be and exactly how eagerly accepted the invitation, which ed. He was used to the rigors of Detroit
long it would take to get them to the eventually led to his first volunteer which at the time was experiencing
perfect temperature,” Schmyr said. He effort behind one of the enormous serious unrest. “I saw tanks in the
said he and his family had been fasci- charcoal pits used to grill the chickens. street when I was 8 years old” he