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Smokin’ hot

Veterans serving barbeque rib dinners on Friday

The mouth-watering aroma emanating from the large
charcoal grills behind E.G. Nick's is sure to draw a crowd
Friday afternoon during the Fall Festival.
Members of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter
528 will be offering barbeque spare rib dinners from 3 until
6 p.m. Sept. 8 as a fundraiser for the group. The veterans are
planning to cook about 300 rib dinners during the afternoon,
just prior to the live music performance in the huge tent in
the restaurant parking lot.
The dinners will be available for carry-out, or to enjoy in
the tent explained Bob Dew, the first vice-president of the
group. The dinners include the spareribs, Cole slaw, maca-
roni and cheese, a roll a cookie and plastic ware for $15.
This is the first year for the spare rib dinners at the festival,
although several of the veterans are experienced grillmas-
ters.
The veterans are no strangers to the festival crowds and The Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 528 members
have been on hand at the entrance to the Party Tent for sev- Honor Guard is a familiar sight at veterans' events in the
eral years, checking identifications and collecting the door area. They will be showing off their grilling skills on Friday
night during the Fall Festival.
charge on Friday and Saturday nights. The $5 cover charge
goes directly to the veterans' group, an effort E.G. Nick's Agostini said. “I've seen people drop $20 or $50 in the jars to
owners Tony Belli and Frank Agostini have supported for contribute just to acknowledge their service. We're happy
several years. this works so well for them.”
“These guys deserve all the help we can provide,” The cover charge has become one of the largest fundrais-
ers for the group which provides clothing, food and other
necessities to Vietnam and other local veterans.
“Frank and Tony have helped us out a lot. They have
been very good to us,” Dew said. “To thank them, we've
made them honorary members of the group and gave them
each a jacket.”
Dew said the chapter donates to several charitable
organizations to help homeless and needy veterans during
the holidays. “We shop and spend about $6,000 for clothing
we donate to organizations that then distribute it to help
homeless vets,” he said. Those donations are the main goal
of the organization which meets at the Mayflower VFW in
Plymouth.
“We provide food, clothes for guys that need it,” he said.
This year, in addition to the door charge at the tent and the
rib dinners, the veterans will also benefit from the parking
fees in the lot behind the restaurant,” Dew said.
Members of the Plymouth Canton Vietnam Veterans of Dew said the vets would fire up the grills about 1 or 2 and
America who will be barbequing ribs during the Fall begin serving dinners at 3. “We'll be there until 6, or until we
Festival, march in the Fourth of July parade in Plymouth. run out,” he said.