Jim Fair
“Oh my gosh, all I worried about was burning the hamburger overnight.'
Kay Shockley
'Jerry had a huge vat he cooked the chili in and he would mix it throughout the night with a boat paddle.’
Kay Shockley
Jim Fair
A good portion of the onions chopped went on these hot dogs.
And to think neither are alums – Shockley, Spartanburg High School, Class of ’67 and Bruce, (Blue Ridge High School, Class of ’72.
Don Wall, Greer High School class of ’61 invited all grads, families and customers to McLeskey-Todd Pharmacy to celebrate its 90th anniversary as an independent pharmacy for a free hotdog lunch with all the fixings. Wall is owner of the pharmacy and his son, Jed, is general manager.
“Oh my gosh, all I worried about was burning the hamburger overnight,” Shockley said. “I mean, how do you keep all that hamburger from burning. Jerry had a huge vat he cooked the chili in and he would mix it throughout the night with a boat paddle.”
Shockley and Bruce cooked about 400 pounds of chili, sliced and chopped 120 pounds of onions and hand-mixed too many pounds of cabbage into cole slaw to count. The condiments for those ingredients, plus 3,000 hotdogs and buns, included 12 gallons of mayonnaise, 4 gallons of pickles, 2 gallons of vinegar and 5 pounds of sugar.
Shockley grew up in Spartanburg where her classmates and many others would frequent the Beacon, food known as much for its quantity as much for its taste, formerly owned by the late John White. “John White has nothing on me,” Shockley said with a laugh.
Wall and Bruce were taking in the crowd that came early and then built as the weather cleared in the afternoon. “People in Greer hired people in Blue Ridge,” Wall said, smiling toward Bruce. “Really, though, people in Blue Ridge support Greer. They are good people.”