By JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
HILLSDALE—Lou’s Tavern, the hometown hangout known throughout the Pascack Valley for its fundraisers as much as its draft pulls, chicken dinners, country nights and stuffed jukebox, is pulling out the stops to help another local family in need.
Mark your calendar for Sunday, Sept. 10, from noon to 6 p.m. for the 19th Annual Pig Roast “Lou-Au.”
If history is any judge, you definitely won’t be alone. The Lou-Aus are swelling in crowd size, as the group portraits on the bar walls boast.
Already ordered: three 60-pound roast pigs, 500 hamburgers, 500 hot dogs, and approximately 200 pounds of chicken, all to be served by volunteers under tents donated by Lollipop School.
Live music by Jam Straight, Thunderstruck and The Rummies will feed the atmosphere from one of the tents.
Admission is by donation of $25 per person. (Kids under 12 get in free.)
There’ll also be face painting, raffles, a 50-50 and a dunk tank. Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts will be out in force.
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Every penny raised is going to Dave Saunders, a lifelong Westwood resident, who suffers from primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disease of the bile ducts. The ailment is as nasty as it sounds: it drove Saunders into two liver transplants, the most recent one in May.
According to Lou’s owner Cindy Barnum, Saunders and his family—he’s a father of four—need help meeting steep costs not covered by insurance. Saunders is in for a long hospitalization and recovery before he can return to work.
Barnum, a third-generation owner of the bar established in 1962, says the “Lou-Aus” and other benefits she hosts with her husband, Joe, and son, Ryan, spotlight the best of the local community.
“It’s blue-collar workers. It’s local. It’s not kids who hang out here, but their dads do. And their moms. As they get older they start coming around here with the kids,” she said.
“If you need something fixed, there’s always a plumber or a carpenter or an electrician here. It’s that kind of bar,” she said.
Last year’s Lou-Au raised many thousands of dollars for a 24-year-old Township of Washington resident who was then recently diagnosed with leukemia and suffered serious complications resulting in overwhelming medical expenses.
“You always hope nobody needs anything, but it always turns out somebody needs something,” Barnum said.
That holds true for the menu as well. If the Lou-Au should run low on its main entree, three trays of donated pulled pork will appear. Deli salads will be donated by Marc’s Deli & Pizzeria in Park Ridge. Tables and chairs, and popcorn and Sno-Cone machines, are being donated by Taylor Rental. Even the Port-a-Potties will be donated.
The event will go on rain or shine. Lou’s Tavern is at 74 Broadway.
For more information, including a photo feed of past events, visit Lou’s Tavern on Facebook.