Is it the tender beef? Is it the soft yet crunchy bun? Or the special secret sauce? For some, it is definitely the fried onions.
Whatever it is, the Rotary Club of Squamish Beef-on-a-Bun is a beloved tradition of the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival.
It has been a part of Squamish Days from the beginning, 65 years ago.
John Drenka and Jim Harley used to prepare it back in the day.
Drenka's secret sauce is still used to this day.
"[The recipe] comes out once a year, and the person who mixes the sauce, he gets it and then it gets put away again," Rotary's Brian Finley told The Squamish Chief.
The local Rotary club began sponsoring the barbecue in 1967.
For the two-day 2022 incarnation, Finley said about 30 Rotarian volunteers, in shifts, will dedicate their time to getting the sandwiches into hungry hands.
A few will get to work Thursday prepping the hut.
Saturday and Sunday, volunteers will be at the hut at 5:30 a.m. to start the fire needed to roast the beef.
Then there's the cutting of onions, beef slicing, frying onions and building and serving sandwiches.
This year, like last, the sandwich has to be pre-ordered from the festival ticket page.
They are available Saturday and Sunday (July 30 & 31).
Pick-up at the Al McIntosh Loggers Sports Grounds starts at 12:30 p.m. each day. (You must have an admission ticket to pick up your pre-purchased buns to enter the grounds.)
As always, quantities are limited for this festival fan favourite. Order your sandwich here.
2022 Rotary Beef Barbecue fun facts
This year, 3,000 sandwiches will be made using:
- 1,600 pounds of grade AAA Canadian beef
- 3,000 Brioche buns
- 80 litres of gravy
- 225 lbs of onions
- 16 litres of horseradish
- 12 litres of mustard
- 6 litres of ketchup
