Charlotte Magazine – July 2019

64 CHARLOTTEMAGAZINE.COM // JUNE 2019

ON A MILD EVENING in January, thick, gray

smoke rolls over the top of St. Luke’s Lutheran

Church and twists past the line of headlights

that point south on Park Road during rush

hour. The smell of burning hickory seeps

through closed windows. Curious commuters

turn into the church parking lot, where nearly

two dozen large metal grills are heaped with

pork butts. Boys and their parents hustle from

one task to another.

This temporary setup, blanketed in smoke

and brimming with youthful energy, is among

the most popular places to †nd barbecue in

the city—one of many fundraisers run by the

city’s Boy Scout troops.

“Charge this man double,” says Gary Swan-

son, the scoutmaster, as I walk into the gym-

nasium to buy a few pounds of Lexington-

style barbecue. I spent my boyhood in this

particular unit, Troop 355, which, like most

scouting units, uses this event to raise money

for epic adventures. Thanks to barbecue sales,

we canoed the Boundary Waters of Minne-

sota, sailed for 10 days in the Bahamas, and

backpacked in New Mexico. My buddies and

I would carry wood, pick

and pack containers of

chopped pork, and get

grease stains on our jeans,

while our parents stoked

the †res and stirred pots of

vinegary sauce. Like many

troops, 355 sells bulk bar-

becue by the pound, as

well as plates and sand-

wiches with slaw and

baked beans.

One of the city’s longest-

running Scout barbecue

events belongs to Troop

33, chartered to Sardis

Presbyterian Church in

southeast Charlotte. The

troop started cooking

barbecue for fun in the

1970s and turned it into a

fundraiser on Super Bowl

weekend in 1994.

“Half the crew has been on the job since

the †rst year,” says Mike Olert, a volunteer

whose sons are now grown. At its peak, Troop

33 cooked six tons of meat in 24 hours; this

past year, members cooked 7,200 pounds of

Lexington-style, cinder block-pit-cooked pork,

bottled 175 gallons of sauces, and prepared

920 quarts of Brunswick stew.

Many of these Scout troops have loyal cus-

tomers—and in some cases, decades-long fol-

lowings—who mark their calendars and order

in advance. Barbecue typically runs either side

of $10 a pound, and pints of sauce usually sell

for four or †ve bucks apiece. Yes, the barbecue

is good (and, in some cases, better than what

you’ll †nd at Charlotte restaurants), but diners

o¡en support the troops because of what their

purchase buys for the young Scouts.

“We had auctions, car washes, sold pop-

corn, and other projects, but none of these

collectively really provided enough funds,”

says Michael Turner of Troop 19 in Hunt-

ersville, which serves its pork eastern-style.

“What is more North Carolina than barbe-

cue?” —Adam Rhew

TROOP 11

Providence United

Methodist Church,

2810 Providence Rd.

STYLE: Eastern

TIMING: Mid-March

TROOP 19

Huntersville Presbyterian

Church,

201 Old Statesville Rd.,

Huntersville

STYLE: Eastern

TIMING: Super Bowl

weekend

TROOP 33

Sardis Presbyterian Church,

6100 Sardis Rd.

STYLE: Western

TIMING: Super Bowl

weekend

TROOP 39

Matthews United

Methodist Church,

801 S. Trade St., Matthews

STYLE: Eastern

TIMING: October

TROOP 355

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church,

3200 Park Rd.

STYLE: Eastern, Western

TIMING: Mid-January

POPULAR BOY

SCOUT BARBECUE

FUNDRAISERS

Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful,

Friendly, Grease-Stained

Some of the city’s best pork is made by its Boy Scout troops

Troop 11 scout leader Alan Wilson assists Matthew

King, Trevor Hoffman, and Ben Bohmfalk as they

prepare and package barbecue for sale.

Troop 11 leader and hogmaster Devin Ware checks the

pork butts while scout leader John Snelshire assists.

COURTESY