The Annual Mt. Zion Ox Roast

Mount Zion Park was a dream which began in 1956, when residents created a fund used to purchase the land. With that land, the community then rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

Times were different then. Of 125 families in the Mt. Zion community, all but two of those families grew and preserved a substantial part of their food supply.

The Ox Roast began in 1959, and through the event's success, the park blossomed to become a force of beauty, recreation, education and development for Mount Zion.

Community workers created and painted street signs and a sign for the town, declaring it "the center of the world," reflecting the residents' belief that Mount Zion was the best place to live and raise a family.

In May, 1963, materials were purchased to begin the community building. By fall, it was complete with kitchen, piano, and community library.

That year, the Ox Roast drew 1000 people and 800 pounds of beef were roasted and served out of the community building for the first time. The crowd enjoyed horse shoe pitching, badminton, pony riding, and playing in the freshly-painted playground.

The park sponsored a farmer's market, and planted 15 acres of strawberries. From May to December 1965, the market sold $38,088.12 worth of eggs alone. Within a year, the 15-acre strawberry patch had been worked to cover 33 acres.

Through dip-and-donate dinners, strawberry picking, egg sales and the annual Ox Roast, the Mount Zion Community once flourished from the fruits of their own labor. Now, only the annual Ox Roast continues to reflect the traditions of a once united community.

Those involved with the park, however, hope to nurture and maintain the gifts of labor of those who worked years ago. This year, they will dig the 47th roasting pit to barbeque approximately 500 pounds of beef.

Men will again start the fire, gather the hot coals and roast - just as their parents and grandparents did before them. One hundred pounds of cabbage will be stirred into coleslaw, and fresh tomatoes and home-made desserts will arrive from all throughout the community.

From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday August 26, you can fill your plate for $5, then stay to enjoy 4-H displays, gospel music, and the end-of-the-day auction. To-go orders are welcome, and individual sandwiches are available for $3 each.

Gospel singers, country and bluegrass singers are invited to come and display their talents between 1 and 5 p.m. Families and friends donate cookies, pies, bread and cakes for the auction held following the roast.

For Mount Zion Park, the Ox Roast is a tradition, a symbolic reminder of the days when neighbors nurtured their neighborhood. For all Calhoun visitors, it is an opportunity to enjoy an affordable meal with friends, old and new, and to support a dream, born long ago, that should never die.