HAINES — Travis Hack wields a staff-sized hook to carry chuck meat toward a concrete pit in the Haines City Park.

He notes that this particular chunk is heavy compared to the estimated 360 pounds of separated meat already sitting in the wide hole on this Sunday evening. Still, Hack manages to neatly place the wrapped food next to entrées that hundreds of Baker County residents will enjoy on the Fourth of July.

The raw meat sizzles as it makes contact with the bottom of the pit. Earlier that morning, Hack and his eight companions started an applewood fire in the pit. It has been burning all day.

“Now all we got is a hot pit,” group advisor Seth Bingham said.

The group plans to leave the meat there all night, only to resurrect its savory flavor in the morning for the benefit of anyone visiting Haines City Park for the city’s Independence Day celebration.

The group plans to leave the meat there all night, only to resurrect its savory flavor in the morning for the benefit of anyone visiting Haines City Park for the city’s Independence Day celebration.

The process for making the meat comes from a recipe going back generations. No one in the group is quite sure who started the tradition.

“The recipe is just taking a marginal piece of meat and making it pretty dang good,” Bingham said. “This is art.”

Bingham is the advisor for the North Powder Future Farmers of America chapter, which is hosting the annual Haines Barbecue for the first time. The FFA hopes to promote its agricultural education organization by giving the community a memorable feast. Along with the meat, the FFA is preparing baked potatoes, rolls, salads, and refreshments.

The Haines Steakhouse is providing baked beans.

Food was served starting at 11 a.m. today at the Haines Park. The small team is preparing food for 350 people, though they don’t know for sure how many to expect.

North Powder FFA reached out to Friends of Haines to organize the event. The latter group is a volunteer organization that raises money for many of the Fourth of July events in Haines.

“I just kind of heard that (Friends of Haines) was looking for a group to do the food,” Bingham said. “They were struggling to find someone to do it.”

Michelle Hack, FFA alumni and former Friends of Haines board member, helped prepare food with her husband Travis and two children: Robert and Kaylie. She says that Friends of Haines sometimes outsources events to other organizations when they are understaffed.

“When I was on the board, there was only five people,” Michelle Hack said. “We were willing to let some things go.”

Friends of Haines allowed FFA to use the event as a fundraiser. Travis Hack says that was the motivating factor to volunteer for the job. This year marks the beginning of what he hopes to be continued partnership with Friends of Haines

Despite this being the first year FFA is hosting the barbecue, local chapter President Tyler Hufford isn’t nervous.

“We did this same kind of style for our banquet,” Hufford, 17, said. “It turned out pretty well.”

Preparing the Meat

The team’s experience shows. Lining up two tables adjacent to the pit, the group forms an assembly line to get the food from the packaging to the cooking pit.

After opening the plastic wrap, Travis and the kids help mix a variety of seasonings and sauces onto the tender beef. This includes garlic, whole bay leaves, Northlands and Montreal steak seasoning, and Worcestershire sauce.

As the seasoning team moves the meat to the next station, some of the sauce inevitably drips onto the table. Partially to avoid further spills, Michelle and other volunteers wrap five layers of foil around the meat. More importantly, this keeps the food packed tight for the cooking process.

Next, Hufford retrieves a soaked Burlap sack from a nearby kiddie pool. He says the water is meant to keep the sack from burning in the pit. He secures the meat in the sack.

See more in the July 4, 2016, issue of the Baker City Herald.