Chicken, cake and community at Sonoma County Fairgrounds

There are a couple of things you should know about ChickenQue, for 50-plus years a Sonoma County tradition and one of the world’s grandest exhibitions of the wondrous potential of the hot grill.

First, if you treat yourself to the Sunday community feast at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, be assured that no one will judge you if you head first to the resplendent, mouth-watering cornucopia that is the cake table.

“A lot of people start there, then they have dinner,” said Dennis Tesconi, a retired Santa Rosa grocery worker and longtime booster of ChickenQue and the 4-H youth projects it supports.

How many cakes, most of them home-baked, will be cut into generous servings and sold for just a buck a slice?

“We can expect, I would say, about 500,” said Cheryl Morhman. She’s a former Petaluma 4-H’er, the mother of two young adults grateful for all the program taught them, and one of about 600 youth and adult volunteers who’ll pitch in on May 3 to greet guests and grill 4,500 chicken halves.

The second essential detail about this year’s ChickenQue, billed as the largest one-day chicken barbecue west of the Mississippi River: It is no longer, officially, the ChickenQue.

You are free to continue calling ?it that; most everyone will. But this year, the 54th, the event has been redubbed the 4-H Open House and Chicken BBQ.

That’s not a catchy as ChickenQue, certainly not. But 4-H officials who work with the approximately 900 Sonoma County children enrolled in the program of agriculture, leadership, personal development and community service found the change necessary, given the broadened purpose of the event.

In addition to the chicken and the famous smorgasbord of cakes, the Open House will allow 4-H kids to show off their projects and for them and the adult leaders to answer questions from families that might be interested in becoming involved.

The projects that engage the kids in the white-and-green uniforms are almost as varied as the cakes: livestock - beef, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, rabbits - photography, robotics, wildlife protection, archery, cooking, horse care, leather craft, marksmanship, viticulture, dog care and training, cake decorating, ceramics, woodworking and more.

“They’re so busy, there’s no time to get into trouble,” said Tesconi, at 67 the grandfather of three children active in 4-H.

“I believe in it. It’s just something that gets beneath your skin,” he said.

“Kids learn so much they don’t even know how much they’re getting out of it.

“I think that if more kids were involved in 4-H, we’d have less problems.”

Health issues have forced Tesconi to step back a bit from the ChickenQue, the one big fundraiser ?of the year for Sonoma County 4-H. But for 30 years he was in the thick of the planning and production of the event, which is always on the first Sunday in May and includes the construction of a great, temporary, concrete-block barbecue pit capable of grilling close to 5,000 half-chickens in just a few hours.

The grill team will get started at about 8 a.m. on the day of Open House and Chicken Barbecue. As the chicken cooks, it’s brushed with a tried-and-proved marinade.

Between 11:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., guests will eat at tables underneath the horse-racing grandstands. The meal, costing $10, includes beans, cole slaw and a roll.

This day alone, it’s allowable to have one $1 slice of cake beforehand and one after.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.