Lions Club to tempt community with chicken fundraiser

It’s a familiar scene, a yellow-feathered chicken roosting by the side of North Washington Street beckoning people to stop in and enjoy the aromas and tastes of the annual Millersburg Lions Club chicken barbecue.

The big bird out front is none other than Lions Club member Scott Brown, who has relished his starring role, even as his Lions Club counterparts are busy making chicken quarters and preparing the rest of the meals that have become a favorite of food aficionados in the area.

The smell of hand-rubbed barbecue chicken will waft throughout Historic Downtown Millersburg on Saturday, May 18 when the Millersburg Lions Club members present the club’s annual chicken barbecue fundraiser in the Commercial & Savings Bank parking lot behind the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce on North Washington Street.

This fundraiser has taken the place of candy and rose sales and quickly become a community favorite, so much so that the Lions Club has worked a very short time before selling out each of the past couple of years.

“We’re usually still cooking chicken when people start to line up,” Lions Club President Dale Obringer said.

With close to 450 chicken quarters and the accompanying side dishes of baked beans, apple sauce, a roll and water for a suggested donation, the food can get pretty scarce in a big hurry, and Obringer said people shouldn’t wait too long to get to the party or they may go home empty-handed.

“We announced that we will start at 11 a.m., but we always have people showing up earlier than that,” Obringer said. “I think people are just hungry for good food, and they also like to support our organization because they know that every dollar we make will go right back into our community.”

In order to speed up service and keep the line of waiting diners off the road, the club will have two lines of cars in the drive-thru pickup area, and diners will get the chicken dinner with little wait.

The chicken is spearheaded by longtime club member Frank Arnold while the baked beans also are a big draw, courtesy of Ed and Sue Dye.

“The beans are Ed and Sue’s specialty,” Obringer said. “They’re cooking beans all night long with Sue’s secret recipe, and they are delicious. It’s a genuine, quality home-cooked meal for a good cause.”

The club recently purchased a new grill, replacing the old one, as well as a trailer in which it can store the grill.

“It was a much-needed purchase,” Obringer said.

In past years the club has used donated funds to create the Holmes County Hero banners the Lions hung throughout Millersburg to celebrate the county’s veterans. The Lions also are known for their eyeglasses program in which people donate eyeglasses they no longer want or need to the Lions Club, which will in turn have them refitted and with a new prescription and donate them to people who can’t afford glasses.

Glasses can be dropped off at Rodhe’s IGA and at Commercial & Savings Banks around Millersburg.

“Our main focus is the eyeglasses program, but we also help provide in many other ways and even reach out into third-world countries to help people there,” Obringer said.

Millersburg Lions Club serves all of Holmes County, and anyone who would like to become a member may do so by calling any of the members or by calling Obringer at 330-231-5969 or find him or the Lions Club on Facebook.