As cows and calves crossed a nearby pasture still frosty and dark, school principals Henry Kluttz and Rick Hampton began throwing slabs of pork in a pit.
The temperature just before 5 a.m. this morning at West Rowan High School was close to 20 degrees. But the sizzling steam of Boston butt pork roasts provided a little encouragement.
“This is about all we can handle,” said Kluttz, West Rowan High principal, who had his West Falcons cap pulled down on his head as far as he could pull it.
Kluttz and Hampton, principal of West Rowan Middle School, are among two dozen principals and assistant principals from around Rowan County to stand watch here in shifts over a mighty gas-fired barbecue pit. The two batches should be done by 11 a.m. Saturday.
The cookoff of some 454 pieces of pork will raise $1,000 toward a scholarship for seniors at each of Rowan County’s six high schools, including Henderson Independent.
That’s 140 pork shoulders, 175 Boston butt pork roasts and 119 turkeys — a lot of Super Bowl feasts.
Volunteers will deliver the meat to pickup sites at North and South Rowan and Salisbury high schools and Rockwell Elementary School.
Ann Tucker, an assistant principal at Granite Quarry Elementary School, finished bookkeeping for the annual event at home around 2 this morning. The barbecue sold out long ago, as it has every year.
“This is the best response we’ve ever had,” Tucker said.
The event raised just $500 its first year, in 1995. Since then the group has drawn $26,500 for scholarships, not including this year. The sponsor, the Rowan-Salisbury Principals and Assistant Principals Association, hopes someday to find a foundation or business to match the money raised.
Dr. Kenny Isenhour, principal at Knollwood Elementary, said administrators constantly ask parents to give money to schools. The barbecue is a way to thank them.
“To the public I know we’re constantly asking for things,” he said. “This is a chance to give back.”
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