By ANNA GILGOFF

Special to The Press

Knowing nothing goes together like barbecues and dads, the New Tripoli Fire Company sponsored a drive-through chicken barbecue sale on Father’s Day.

And, more than 500 sales made the event a success.

“[Five hundred] is about average,” Sid Madtes said, who was hard at work serving customers as they drove up. “We have extras but I know they’re going to be sold.”

The aroma of barbecue practically guaranteed the sales.

“The chicken is made over charcoal,” Madtes said. “The Lorahs put it together and we handed it out. This works out really well.

“The convenience makes it easy on the fire company and convenient for customers as well.

He said the drive-through has made clean up a thing of the past.

A steady stream of customers kept fire company volunteers busy but they made the most of their time by developing an assembly line for filling orders.

“I showed up at 9 a.m.,” Derek Dorney said. “There’s a lot to set up.”

Behind the scene, Edgar Lorah emerged from the smoke as he roasted potatoes wrapped in foil.

“I enjoy what I do,” he said. “It’s just a big family event.”

“We’ve been doing this catering for 23 years.

“We were at Kempton for the weekend, and we just did 800 sales for the band at Northwestern. We did really well.”

In deference to Father’s Day, Lorah could hardly resist thinking about his own father.

“Pop taught us how to work,” he said, with a smile. “This is a family business. We raise everything we cook - the beef, pork and chicken.

“We have a fresh market on Saturday and Sunday and we do track racing and tractor pulls, too.”

Lorah didn’t mind having to work on Father’s Day.

“I enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve got to get far away from home for me not to work.”

Conviviality was the watchword of the day as patrons chatted amiably with the fire hall volunteers.

That led Madtes to report the entire event was in a word, “Wonderful.

“We appreciate the customers coming and supporting us,” he said.