Getting Ready for Fair

50th annual Tuffy Winberg Free Pit BBQ a Drive-Through

BROKEN BOW- Over the years, the Tuffy Winberg Free Pit BBQ has become a staple of the Custer County Fair. Covid-19 threatened to cancel the 50th annual celebration this year, but the BBQ committee struck back with a new concept, a drive-through.

“I was thinking about the logistics of what faze we were in and whether we could do it, and we had to start planning something,” Organizer Matt Thomas said. “It just hit me you know we’ve had our cruise nights where the fast food restaurant’s drive throughs have been open through the whole thing, so why couldn’t we do a drive-through.”

Up until a few months ago, there was serious doubt about whether the BBQ would happen this year or the fair in general for that matter. Luckily, things have continued to improve in the area and the governor started loosening the (DHM) in June.

“You know we were really up in the air for a while and then the governor loosened the DHM’s enough that we had hope,” Organizer Jami Anderson said.

The drive-through was really the only alternative for the group at the time if they wanted to have it. Like many fair activities, it was built around socialization.

“Obviously we were going to have to social distance people somehow and with the previous way it just wasn’t possible,” Anderson said. “We just can’t keep people six feet apart. The concept of the BBQ in the past was socialization, so this year we had to change it to a drive-through and that will hopefully keep everyone safe. Our volunteers that will be preparing meals will be wearing masks and gloves and that will keep them safe as well.”

Thomas and Anderson had to talk to a lot of different people to make sure the idea they came up with would even be possible to pull off. They started by going to the fair board and discussing their plan with them. Once they got the okay there they submitted their plan to Loup Basin Public Health and got approved through them.

Another big boost for the duo was the help they got from the Custer County Foundation. They received a $2,500 grant to help jumpstart working on the BBQ for this year. A huge help for an event that costs around $10,000 to put on annually each year.

When the group was putting the concept of the BBQ together one thing they originally thought is that they wouldn’t need as many volunteers. Once they got deeper into the process they soon realized that wouldn’t be the case.

“We’ve had around 140 volunteers who have helped in the past and we thought this year we wouldn’t need as many,” Anderson said. “But once we got into the nitty-gritty part of it we realized we are going to need just as many people.”

One of the biggest reasons for so many volunteers is the need for people to direct traffic. The committee is asking that

Donnis Hueftle-Bullock Shown above, meat for the free pit BBQ is prepared to cook back in 2014. The meat is wrapped in muslin cloth for cooking. Lots of wood is needed to make sure the fire gets hot enough. It is also very important that the volunteers out enough sand on top of the meat so that none of the heat escapes. You don’t want to see any smoke coming from the pit. It’s very important, otherwise, the meat might not be cooked properly.

Tuffy Winberg is pictured above at the 2015 Free Pit BBQ at the Custer County Fair. Since the beginning, he was instrumental in the BBQ. Winberg died July 1, 2017. Since his passing, the BBQ has taken his name in his honor. Donnis Hueftle-Bullock

Donnis Hueftle-Bullock Todd Fenton of Broken Bow and Brian Miller of Callaway make sandwiches at the 2017 Free Pit BBQ. Each year the Free Pit BBQ feeds thousands of people at the fair.