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An estimated 200 people turned out Saturday for the traditional Memorial Day BBQ at Tennessee Ronnie’s. Ronnie and his South Water Street / Hodges Street neighbors Charley Overcash and Rob and Sue Werner began the tradition three years ago. They also throw a similar party in October.

The party drew lots of people from Oriental, from Raleigh, Greensboro and beyond - plus cruisers who were passing through town.

Getting in the cue for the BBQ

This is a tough way to drink a beer, especially for a chicken

The arrangement is simple. Ronnie fires up his red grill around 6am and for the next dozen hours, cooks a whole pig. He also prepares a number of Drunk Chickens, birds precariously perched on cans of Bud. In late afternoon, folks start coming to the tent, adding their covered dishes to the spread.

This year’s party featured a new event, the Cornbread Contest - who would be named the 2003 "Cornbread Idol.". About a dozen types of cornbread were sampled by Ronnie and his fellow cornbread judge Marnie Stevenson of Denver (who was in town along with her parents who keep a boat here). Ronnie says Marnie was chosen to be a judge because Denver is on the ‘right side of the Mason Dixon line’.

The cornbread judges in conference

While one of the judges may have been from far away, the winning entry came from only a few blocks over. Tanya Twichell of Oriental took the top prize, a cornbread skillet mitt and a badge proclaiming her to be the "Cornbread Idol."

Cornbread Idol Tanya Twichell poses with the judges. Tanya promised to share the recipe with us...

Twichell’s cornbread was light and eggy. It was a departure from the sometimes dry, heavy cornbread of the region. That led to some discussion in the long line to the grill that perhaps Tennessee Ron had a liking for quiche. Asked later, when it was clear he no longer had tongs in his hands, Ronnie brushed aside the scurrilous rumor. “I won’t even say the word,” he said. He added however, that he did like eggs.

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