Where the Color of Your Skin Still Matters
But Only on That Barbeque Chicken!
By Teresa Holloway
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Community unity has an appeal to the ear, and more importantly to the mind and heart. Two enterprising young pastors in the Crockett community surely felt a call to action.
Early one Sunday morning, the predominantly white membership of First United Baptist Church looked up at a young African American man in the pulpit.
Across town, the predominantly African American congregation of St. Luke’s Baptist Church looked at their own pulpit to find a White man.
Both congregations had been caught by surprise by the switch, though neither uttered a protest. The sermon commenced and the lesson, prefaced by the Community Unity spurred great pastor-switch, was decidedly sticky.
So sticky, in fact, it has lingered with both congregations for the last two plus years.
Jason Hodges was deeply affected. “About two years ago, Pastor King Dickerson and Pastor Lance Mann from St. Luke’s Baptist swapped pulpits one Sunday, without the congregation knowing. Brother Mann spoke at our church.
“He delivered a very powerful message on unity in the community between the races. ‘If we can’t get along down here, how do we expect to get along up there?'” Hodges said as he recalled the message.
“I got to listening to that and I got to thinking, ‘What do we have in our community that brings all the races together?'”
“There’s really not just one particular event, but I came up with the idea of a barbecue competition to try and bring everybody together. We partnered with St. Lukes,” Hodges said.
And the UnityFest was born. Each year, the two churches hold the fiery competition and community members flock to the aroma for the fellowship, the worship and of course, the food.
“The money we raise from entry fees and plates sales is divided between the two churches for the youth groups, they can buy school supplies or whatever they may need,” he said.
“That’s how it all came about. This is our second one. We have a couple less teams this year, but we had new teams, too. Out of the six teams, four of them were new. Older teams were unable to make it due to last minute commitments.
“We got new teams on line, now if we can get the old teams back, it could grow. Our goal is simple. We want to grow the event so much we need to move it to the civic center parking lot because we can’t hold everyone here,” he said.
The aroma of brisket and chicken, smoldering coals and secret sauce was still heavy in the air Saturday, Sept. 10 as the cookers, families and friends ambled into the First Baptist Church on Goliad.
Pastors Mann and Dickerson looked out over the hungry crowd and gave praise. “This is what heaven looks like to me,” Mann told the assembly. “A place where color doesn’t matter, and everyone sits together.”
Before Dickerson and Mann shared a Grace for the meal, the hard-working cookers received several accolades.
Awards were handed out, with the coveted Best Overall going to Guns and Hoses. (Some would argue the Crockett Fire Department and Police Department pairing have an unfair advantage – after all, they make their living controlling fires.)
Nevertheless, Guns and Hoses pulled in some ‘tough’ competition this year.
Best Burger was awarded, Tess ‘The Mess’ Easley won 3rd, ‘Big Mike’ Easley won 2nd and Guns and Hoses won 1st Place.
Dickerson wasted no time in pointing out a dispute over a recipe caused the ‘The Mess’ and ‘Big Mike’ to part pit ways early on but that ‘Big Mike’ came out ahead …
Baked Beans was a new category this year. After all, no barbecue is complete without them. Could a ‘Potato Salad’ category be in the works for the 3rd Annual UnityFest?
Third place for the musical fruit dish went to Paul Blaylock, 2nd Place to Kimberly Maars and 1st Place was earned by Ray Wolgast. One hopes the teams didn’t sample overmuch before the crowd squeezed into the community room!
The chicken category brought out some back-slapping ‘I told you so’s’ among the crowd. 3rd Place went to St. Luke’s, 2nd Place to the First Baptist Cookers and, yes, 1st Place to Guns and Hoses.
Pork spare ribs, a Texas traditional favorite, saw St. Luke’s again in 3rd Place, First Baptist Cookers in 2nd Place and … yes. Guns and Hoses in 1st Place.
By this time in the award ceremony, the Crockett Police Department and Crockett Fire Department were grateful for a regular workout routine, as the table began to wobble under the weight of the many plaques atop the surface.
Brisket may top everyone’s list of favorites, and the groaning buffett tables lined against the walls gave testament to the fact.
Latexo Fire Department took home 3rd Place in the Brisket category, with St. Luke’s Missionary Baptist Church trailing very close in 2nd Place.
Repetition – Guns and Hoses took home 1st Place in the Brisket category. No one professed surprise.
The Grand Champion Cookers with the best cumulative scores in the Chicken, Ribs and Brisket categories was Guns and Hoses.
Can anyone beat these guys? That remains to be seen next year. Already cookers from every other entry were good naturedly scheming and planning for next year’s event.
The 3rd Annual competition will be held September 8 and 9, so start planning now, Hodges advised.
‘Outsmoking’ the fire department and ‘nabbing’ the best brisket plaque from the cops – the combined team of Guns and Hoses – may prove very difficult, indeed!
