ments from the weather. The Plymouth
High School band gave a concert and
the Penn Theatre showed old-time
comedies for 10 cents.
The festival has changed through
the years, as new groups have become
involved and old groups honed their
efforts. It remains, true, though, to its
original, community-minded intent, to
generate funds that stay within local
charities and benefit the Plymouth
community.
The task of directing and overseeing
the crew of volunteers at the barbeque
falls to a committee made up of Rotary
Clubmembers.
This year, the chairman is Kay
Linville. Scott Wirgua, Paul Opdyke,
Mike Sullivan, Bill Weber, Rich
Eisiminger and Jeff Stella are the com-
mittee directors and Mike Richardson
is the advisor.
The menu remains the same,
although the coffee has been replaced
with a soft drink or water and a cookie
added to the meal. This year, the price
is $10 for a pre-sale ticket or $12 the
day of the event. The club has tickets
available in two booths downtown, one
at Ann Arbor Trail and Main Street
and another on Penniman Avenue and
Main Street, where tickets can be pur-
chased at the advance price on both
Friday andSaturday.
While the pits are constructed
Friday night, volunteers start the char-
coal as early as 6 a.m. to begin cooking
the 10,500 chicken dinners, the pit
crews have the first meals ready to be
boxed up just before 11 a.m. and the
meals just keep coming until 5 p.m. or
until they run out of chicken.
“That's happened a few times,”
Linville said. “People really love this
chicken.”
Pick-ups of carry out dinners can be
obtained at West Middle School on
SheldonRoad.
ROTARY CHICKEN BARBECUE AND FALL FESTIVAL 2011
Page 18
History
from page 17