Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Waverly United Methodist Church Sept. 5
Attendees at the 2009 Waverly United Methodist Church bull roast.
This year marks the 42nd year of the Waverly United Methodist Church bull roast.
Abington Journal File Photos
Every year, Labor Day means three things: the end of summer, the start of the school year and the annual Labor Day Bull Roast at Waverly United Methodist Church Sept. 5. This year marks the 42nd year of the bull roast, and though the event lasts only from 1 to 5 p.m. or when the bull runs out, mouths are watering already.
Event coordinator Holly Gilpin said the bull roast has become an area tradition that the Abington community looks forward to from the day after the roast to the next one a year later.
“It’s just a great tradition,” she said . “People can see each other after a whole year… It’s like a big family reunion.”
But this is not a backyard burger-and-hot-dog barbecue. Grillmaster Ron Whitaker takes the bull by the horns when he cooks more than 20 pounds of beef rounds on an open fire. The cooking starts at dawn, then Whitaker roasts steaks all morning until the carnivores arrive.
Steak isn’t the only meat in the stew. In the past, only 10 percent of that year’s Labor Day Bull Roast proceeds have gone to charities. This year, 100 percent of all the money brought in will be given as charitable donations to sponsored impoverished communities: to benefit the victims of the flooding in Plymouth, The Abington Ecumenical Ministerium Food Pantry, St. Francis of Assisi Kitchen The Women’s Resource Center, children of the Abington Heights School District who will need winter coats, gloves and hats, victims of the tornados in Joplin, Mo., the Henderson Settlement in Kentucky and the Rose Bud Indian Reservation in North Dakota. “This year, the proceeds go straight to the people who need it,” Gilpin said, “We are a mission-minded church… We just want to help.”
The first bull roast was held in 1969 by the Waverly United Methodist Church men’s group. Soon, their wives helped by making dessert. Then, in 1991, the Labor Day Bull Roast became a community event. Now, after 42 meat-filled years, it’s happening again.
When the day finally arrives, the age old question of “Where’s the beef?” will be answered: Waverly United Methodist Church, Sept. 5, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.