By Joey McWilliams
CADDO – It’s a busy weekend in Caddo with a lot of activity planned for this Saturday.
The annual rodeo is having its parade at 10 a.m. and the rodeo itself is scheduled for 8 p.m.
And in between, the Town Restoration Association of Caddo will host its annual barbecue lunch, the Buffalo Trail BBQ, to raise funds for community projects.
The specific project for this summer is the “Rock Community Building” on Buffalo Street.
Mary Maurer, who is the secretary of TRAC, said that anyone can come out – all they have to do is show up.
“Lunch itself is $7,” Maurer said. “A lot of people like to come early to look at the baskets for the silent auction. Last year, we had over 100. They are prepared all week from donations.
“We have a couple of women that put like things in baskets. We might have a Christmas basket or a Halloween or a school theme or Western. And you get several items in each basket. They have a preview tonight, if you want to go see the baskets and see what’s in them and get your money ready.”
The preview is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at the Community Building. The Rock Building.
“That’s what everyone calls it,” Maurer said. “It was built by the WPA and the rock for it came from the Stringtown area. And yes, that’s what we call it. There is a smaller community center in Boland Park that gets rented out. And so, to differentiate between the two, we it the “Rock” one. It’s the oldest.”
TRAC has been at work in Caddo for more than a decade helping with projects such as designing and building the community bulletin board, obtaining grant money for new sidewalks and street lamps and installing the buffalo mascot downtown.
“The most recent one has been renovating the community center itself,” Maurer said. “But we do other things like signs and the pavilion in town and flower beds and smaller projects, too. Some of the funds aren’t specifically designated, so we try to communicate with other groups in town to see what needs to be done.”
Meat for the barbecue was donated by the Rib Crib.
“Saturday morning, people will go through and make their bids until noon,” Maurer said. “Then it closes and everybody goes home with baskets, we hope.
“Sometimes people go home with more baskets than they had planned and we like that even better.”