The seventh annual Smoke at the Lodge event drew a big crowd to the Summerville Masonic Lodge last weekend.
“It gets bigger every year,” Kenny Craven, one of the Masons who founded the annual cook-off, said. “There was barely enough room to walk around. There were 21 cooking teams that came out to help us raise money for some worthy causes and we added a shag competition this year.”
Just like the last several years, The Embers, a rhythm and blues/heart and soul band known most for its work in the Beach Music genre, put on a free concert during the two-day event.
Smoke at the Lodge pits cooking teams against each other in a barbecue competition at the lodge — located at 111 N. Main St. During “No Pork Night” on Friday, contestants prepared various dishes, which were voted on by celebrity judges. After the judging, samples of the delicacies were sold to the public for $1 each.
Then the teams cooked a whole pig through the night. The next day, all the meat was used to prepare BBQ dinners that were sold so the proceeds could be used for the Masonic Lodge’s various humanitarian efforts.
“We sold over 1,000 dinners Saturday,” Craven said. “This is such a great way to help us give back to the community. It’s a family-oriented event with tasty food, great music and just a good time.”
The dinner sale part of the event dates back more than 40 years. Craven says the event has become the largest Masonic fundraiser in the state.
Each year judges hand out several awards. This year, the top honor of "Best Barbecue at the Lodge" went to the Some-R Swine team of Summerville. Pot Belly Cookers was the runner-up. Rounding out the Top 5 were Mike’s Catering, Big Buts BBQ and Southern Que-N-Stew.
Smokin Butts won the No Pork Night competion with Cranky & J’s Bar-B-Q taking seoncd place and Jack’s Place placing third.
Mike’s Catering also won the People’s Choice Award.

Contact Roger Lee @ 873-9424 ext. 213 or rlee@journalscene.com.