This Saturday, what has been viewed historically as "the social event of the season" will unfold once more at the Honeywood Arena.

For more than 50 years, citizens from miles around have travelled to the tiny community for a fine beef barbeque with all the trimmings. Rumour has it, "that in days gone by", the ladies purchased a new outfit just for the event.

The barbeque was launched in 1965 to raise funds for a new building after a suspected lightning fire destroyed the 1949 arena. (In 1949, community members logged over 5,000 hours, at 70 cents an hour, and finished the building in December of that year. The cost was $30,000.)

In 1965, history repeated itself and within eight hours of the fire, the community came together and decided to rebuild the arena. Farmers came off the silt loam fields, grabbed a bite to eat, and came nightly to raise the building. The total cost of that building was over $90,000 plus nearly $27,000 for artificial ice.

Typically, the event feeds between 1,000 and 1,400 people in about three hours. In 1981 this soared to 1,800. Last year 1,000 were fed and with conservation a priority only three bags of garbage were created during the event.

Chief organizer for the event, Honeywood's Heather Hayes, says the beef for the BBQ is locally sourced and "cooked to perfection over charcoal fires manned for close to 24 hours.' New potatoes are dug from local producers and approximately 200 volunteers work tirelessly to make the event a success.

This year, a jamboree will follow the dinner with music by Greg Holmes and friends. Gator Transportation is provided by Elmira Farm Services and the Shelburne Agricultural Society's Farmapalooza will be on display with animals for the kids to view and pet. There will be displays and free giveaways by Dufferin Compost and the Dufferin Cattleman Association, raffle draws, and a display featuring local area and arena history.

The spirit that raised arenas can be seen coming off the fields of Honeywood silt loam farms yet again, in the form of citizen coalitions set to protest any open pit mining on prime agricultural land in the Melancthon headwaters area.

Tickets for the 1965 Honeywood BBQ went for $2 apiece and $1 for kids and raised over $2,200 toward the cost of the arena. Tickets for this Saturday's event, which reunites neighbours and old friends and supports an arena built by the many hands of the community, will be $15 for adults, $6 for kids, except for those 5 and under, who are free. Dinner is served from 5 to 8 p.m., and take-out is available at a separate entrance.