No burger was left unflipped in Humboldt on Thursday, September 7. The Humboldt Downtown BID held their final burger and concert in its summer series. Hungry patrons lined up for burgers provided by the St. Augustine School Community Council in support of school programming.  

The noon hour diner crowd gathered on 6th Avenue outside the Museum and enjoyed a burger lunch along with the musical stylings of one of Humboldt area’s most popular and busy performers, Walter Bushman. Walter dug into his deep repertoire of Canadian folk classics including the revered Gordon Lightfoot and Valdy, one of Walter’s favourites.  

Meanwhile, just down Highway 20 at the Olymel Building, the smoke was curling skyward with the savoury goodness of their souvlaki burgers at their benefit barbecue for the Humboldt District Food Bank.  

“It’s our seventh annual barbecue, with all the proceeds going to the Food Bank, so were proud of that,” said Olymel’s Casey Smit.  

The grill crew was also getting set to package up their sponsored “Feeding the World” meals bound for area producers. The meals are provided free to farm families, with ribs and sides donated by Olymel so all the sponsorship contributions can go directly to the Food Bank. 

“The meals are all sponsored by local businesses or large farm organizations,” explained Smit, “and they’ll go out to different areas, as far away as Porcupine Plain and Dafoe, as well as the Humboldt area. It’s a package of 10-12 racks of ribs and all the accompaniments. One of our key members will go out with tables, chairs, food and the whole package to leave some coolers, shirts and hats and set it up for the farmers right out in the field.” 

The hope is to raise $25,000 to $30,000 dollars as they have in the past, Smit says.  

Local organizations and local farmers and diners are always the big winners when the community gets together for these well-attended barbecue events.  

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