Submitted photo Dave Bradford is shown with his three trophies from the local Smoke On the Square fundraiser in Hope.
Jeff Yarnell loses a little sleep this time of year so the Community Center of Hope can gain extra funding for its operating expenses for child care, a food pantry and more.
He does that when he sleeps on the historic Hope Town Square with his smoker and other equipment the night before the annual Smoke On the Square food-music-and-games fundraiser that benefits the community center.
The center operates a food pantry and provides affordable child care, plus a range of activities.
“A nonprofit like us in a small town sometimes can struggle to pay our staff and teachers enough to keep them here,” said Yarnell, president of the center’s board of directors. “And that’s true even though those staff and teachers love the center, love their jobs and love the kids.
“And we can’t always pay the same competitive wages they might get in someplace like Columbus.”
Fundraisers such as this one literally help keep the center functioning, according to Yarnell.
“We depend upon these things to help keep the doors open,” he said.
The event, launched in 2011, normally attracts some 1,200 people throughout south central Indiana and beyond and raises around $7,000 to $8,000 annually while attendees enjoy pork, ribs, brisket and chicken.
“I look for us to raise about the same or better this year,” he said.
Smoker David Bradford of Leipsic in Orange County will miss his first Smoke on the Square this year as a competitor, only because of his daughter’s high school graduation.
“I just love cooking in Hope,” he said. “That one (event) is so well organized.”
And he’s been such a winner, earning grand champion honors three times.
“I get kind of upset sometimes if I don’t win,” he said with a chuckle.
But the gathering means so much to him that he will stop by, at least as an attendee, May 17 — and to enjoy others’ cooking.
Health laws prohibit the individual competitors or teams from selling their food from the competition to the public. But in the People’s Choice category, in which attendees vote for the best pork shoulder, the public can purchase a limited number of tickets for cooked items. That food normally sells out in about 90 minutes.
Menu items for the general public start with a hotdog meal with chips and a side dish for $8.
About the event
What: Annual Smoke On the Square barbecue plus food-music-and-fun fundraiser for the Community Center of Hope.
When: 4 to 8 p.m. May 17 and 11 a.m. until food sellout on May 18. Rain or shine.
Where: Historic Hope Town Square.
Admission: Free.
Information: Facebook page for Hope On the Square – Hope, Indiana
