An old-fashioned western barbecue which attracted an estimated 7,000 people who consumed more than 2,000 pounds of prime beef was quite possibly the most successful promotional/charity event ever staged at the Applewood Village Shopping Centre, so successful in fact it was repeated the following year.
The actual site for the BBQ was on the parkette, which was located at the eastern end of the shopping centre. At that time, the shopping centre ended at the Second Line (Stanfield Road) which continued straight south to the North Service Road while MacIntosh Crescent veered off south-easterly. A little parkette was in the middle.
Meat from five steers, 150 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of salt, 15 pounds of pepper, 10,000 hamburger rolls, 16 cords of firewood, four barbeque pits, two firemen, six chefs, four helpers and 18 hours of preparation time made the Old-Fashioned Western Barbecue a resounding success.
The Port Credit Weekly along with all of the major Toronto media carried stories of the event. The Weekly’s edition of Thursday, September 12, 1957 wrote the following on the day of the event.
“Barbecue five steers and add 10,000 rolls and you’re all set for a luscious “Steer Burger” at the Applewood Benefit Festival, sponsored by the Merchants of Applewood Village Shopping Centre, tonight, Thursday, beginning at 8:30 p.m.
Dozens of community organizations and individuals are co-operating in staging the old-fashioned western event in the interests of the South Peel Association for Retarded Children.
And just to make sure that it’s done right, the merchants of Applewood, after an exhaustive month’s search came up with Elton A. Chisholm, an acclaimed expert in the art of western style barbecuing. He will supervise six butchers and two firemen in the preparation of 10,000 “ Steer Burgers.”
If you were at the C.N.E. you might have seen some of the ‘burgers’ –two of the steers, for tonight’s repast, were special C.N.E. show steers.