Organizers say there’s still time to place an order for the Lauderdale Council on Aging’s fourth annual Smokin’ Super Bowl Pig Butts fundraiser scheduled Saturday.

The fundraiser began in 2014 as a tasty way to subsidize the amount of money the group needed to sponsor activities for area seniors during Older Americans Month in May, said Susie Broadhead, a nine-year council member, publicity chair and representative of East Mississippi State Hospital.

“By choosing to host the event on Super Bowl weekend,  we knew that with the right amount of marketing and publicity, we’d be successful and it was,” Broadhead said. “In fact, the fundraiser has been a sellout every year.  Now, the event has grown so that we depend on pre-orders for our success and this year, we will have limited “extras.”

“We encourage people to order and to pay in advance so that we will know exactly how many extra that we have to sell. We don’t want to turn anyone away, but a guaranteed pick-up is a paid order.”

Connie Gruno, director of dining services for Morrison Community Living at Aldersgate Retirement, along with husband Henry Gruno, return for a fourth year to fire up their vintage wood-fired smoker Friday, Broadhead said.

“Connie has been with us since day one in our endeavors, so has Aldersgate Retirement Community,” Broadhead said. Together, they are responsible for the product from beginning to end. Morrison’s donated the meat our first year to get us started and has made a financial contribution ever since.

Aldersgate donates our smoking venue as well as all of the seasonings and paper products. Scott Bancroft, of Safeguard Dement Printing, donated our tickets and flyers.”

This year the Grunos plan to smoke 172 butts. Connie Gruno said the cooking process takes about 12 hours, from firing the grill to pulling the finished product off the heat.

“Henry and I have a massive smoker made from an old iron fuel tank,” Gruno said. “The smoker has two racks and will hold around 50 butts per cooking. We start with fresh, boneless butts that average around nine pounds.”

The butts are then marinated in a brine. After marinating, the butts are rolled in a dry rub mixture. They are then placed on the racks of the smoker, which has been fired to a temperature of 250 degrees. Henry Gruno likes to use pecan or cherry wood when it is available.

“We always tell people to follow the signs and the smoke to get to Aldersgate on Smokin’ Super Bowl Pitt Butt Saturday,” Broadhead said. “We are so grateful for everyone’s efforts to make our event prosperous.”

For more information and tickets, call the Meridian Activity Center at (601) 485-1812. Tickets are $30 and all orders are to be picked up at Methodist Senior Services Aldersgate, 6600 Poplar Springs Drive. Unless prior arrangements have been made, orders not picked up by 2 p.m. will be sold.