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Building Community, from the Pit Up

Every summer for the past 41 years, Fellowship Lodge No. 668 begins selecting special fruit-tree firewood to fuel its deep-pit barbecue.

The actual barbecue event isn’t held till fall – this year’s event was September 18 – but such preparations start as early as June.

Prep-work is part of the fun: The meal itself takes two days. The morning before the event, meat is seasoned with the lodge’s own dry rub blend. That evening, it’s placed in a five-foot-deep barbecue pit lined with firebricks and filled with hot coals. The next morning, lodge members and families gather for breakfast, then get to work on traditional side dishes.

Every year, residents from the Masonic Home at Covina attend as guests of the lodge. The lodge also covers the cost of tickets for fire and police personnel, and any service person in uniform. This year, 12 Covina residents attended, and were joined by citizens from nearby Banning, Beaumont, Cherry Valley, and Redlands.

Photo: Members of Fellowship Lodge remove deep-pit barbecue beef from the fire pit.