By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — The Moore County Volunteer Fire Department’s (MCVFD) annual roast corn fundraiser is a Lynchburg tradition dating back decades as well as a southern foodie find documented in national cookbooks and immortalized in the Jack Daniel’s Squires Calendar. It’s also the collective effort of one of Lynchburg’s most unsung institutions: an all-volunteer squad that protects this community, its million-dollar lake homes, and warehouses full of what basically amounts to accelerant.

This year on Saturday, July 4 beginning at 9 a.m. the men and women of the MCVFD will gather together on the historic Lynchburg Square to carry on the tradition and raise crucial funds for others in our community. This year’s proceeds will benefit a Moore County Middle School student battling leukemia.

Among those behind the grill will be Chris Dickey, a longtime department member who spends his weekdays as chef at the legendary Miss Mary Bobo’s Restaurant — feeding tourists from around the world. On the Fourth, he trades the dining room for the square, swapping the white tablecloth for work gloves and manning a grill that runs hot enough to char husk.

Dickey says he’s volunteered with the MCVD for over 20 years because he wants to help people in their worst moments — though he admits that the job takes a personal toll on the men and women who do it. The Dickeys boast a history of volunteerism in the community. His uncle Jerry Dickey also serves in the department and his son, Cooper, has expressed an interest.

A LYNCHBURG TRADITION

He explains that the department once hosted roast corn sales during Frontier Days and the Jack Daniel World Invitational Barbecue, but that COVID cut demand to the point where it only made sense to do it once a year. They picked July 4 because that’s when the local, peaches and cream corn they buy from a Hillsboro farmer is at it’s peak.

“I remember eating roasted corn at Frontier Days as a kid,” he says. “After we scaled back, we got lots of requests to bring it back. That’s when we decided to do it once a year as a fundraiser. It’s based on donations, and we give the money to local families facing medical emergencies and associated financial needs.”

The corn itself is no afterthought. The department pre-purchased 1,000 ears this year — which will be picked fresh the day before — and will prepare them using a method that caught the attention of barbecue authority Steven Raichlen, who featured the department’s technique in his Barbecue Bible cookbook series. The day before, the ears get soaked in large tubs of iced salted water. On roasting days, they place 50 ears at a time on grills described as running hot as a blast furnace, leaving the husks charred black. Each one needs to be individually turned to insure a good roast.

“That’s where it gets a little crazy because the ones in the back are hot, and trying to reach across and get it flipped without burning your forearms is a challenge,” he says. “But usually, as long as you keep it all sealed off pretty good with enough corn on there, the heat don’t get you as bad. Once you get it set up, a little symphony gets going.”

Buckets of melted butter and salt will be available onsite to create a signature Lynchburg summer treat.

The tradition stretches back to sometime in the mid-seventies to the days when Frontier Days — Lynchburg’s annual July 4th festival, which dates to 1962 — drew crowds to the square for a week at a time. The fire department’s roast corn was part of that fabric, and eventually part of the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue Cook-Off as well. At their peak, the volunteers were serving up to 800 ears a day across multiple events. The department warns that the corn sells out fast.

The tradition’s reach beyond Moore County is documented in more than cookbooks. A photograph of department volunteers working the corn grill — shot by photographer Mark Tucker — appeared in the 2013 Jack Daniel’s Squires Calendar, placing the fire department’s fundraiser in the same iconic visual catalog as the distillery’s rickhouses, its charcoal burning, and the limestone cave spring that started it all.

VOLUNTEER NUMBERS ARE DWINDLING

But like volunteer fire departments across rural Tennessee and the country, the MCVFD faces a challenge the corn grill can’t fix. The ranks of volunteers firefighters are thinning as longtime members age out, and recruitment has not kept pace. The department covers not only the town of Lynchburg but the rural stretches of Moore County beyond it in addition to providing mutual aid to the surrounding counties. When the tones ring, they stop what they are doing and respond.

“We put in lots of time and effort in and not getting back anything monetary in return,” he says. “We appreciate the gratitude from the community and the service we learn, but not everyone these days seems interested in that.”

For now, the grill fires up Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on the Lynchburg Square. Get there early.

“Everybody loves corn,” Dickey jokes — referring to the viral Tik Tok video of a young man enjoying his first roast corn. Then he explains it in chef language. “You get the sweetness of the corn and the savory of the salted butter. It’s just really good.”

About the Lynchburg Times: The Lynchburg Times is Moore County’s locally owned, independent news source and the only Lynchburg media source own by a Lynchburg native. We are also one of the few women-owned media organizations in the state. Our reporting is supported by readers, small business partners, and underwriters who believe community journalism matters. If this story was valuable to you, consider becoming a supporter at lynchburgtimes.com.