The Snow Lake Motor Inn (SLMI) debuted their new cooker at the Aug. 6 Street Party, christening it with a 150-lb pig graciously donated by Cornerview Enterprises.
All who were in attendance agreed that the product produced in the vessel was second to none and many were stoked in anticipation of tasting the next offering the cooker had to offer up.
Well, the wait wasn’t long; it was fired up once again cooking the main course for an ‘All You Can Eat, Barbecued Meat Bonanza’, the SLMI hosted during the supper hour on Saturday, Sept. 24.
The cooker itself is a concept that Motor Inn co-owner Gerard Lamontagne has thought about for some time. He felt that one of the things Snow Lake was missing was a cooker with enough capacity to handle large amounts, or big projects such as a pig roast.
When the opportunity arose to acquire an old stainless steel water tank, he thought of the possibility of turning it into a barbecue and jumped at it. He purchased the tank and discussed the project with others. Locals Shaun and Lorne Kopeechuk were onboard and transformed the vessel with torches and welding rods into an eight foot long, two compartment cooker.
“They charged minimal labour for the maximum amount of work that they put into the project,” said Lamontagne of the industriousness of the two men. “Robert Stoupe did likewise with the tires; offering them at cost.”
The trailer, tires and unit itself cost the businessman roughly $3,500, and in a perfect world, profits from the street party would have gone to pay for the cooker’s construction. However, the Snow Lake Motor Inn donated all those profits ($1,250) to the Canada Day Committee/70th Committee for fireworks.
In order to pay for the cooker, profits from the Sept. 24 event will go back into its construction and it will be rented out to organizations for their events, or the SLMI will cater with it if people so desire. “The main thing is that there is now a full size pig roaster in town and it can do a lot more than just roast a pig,” said Lamontagne. “It will be in the community long after guys my age are gone.”
For the ‘All You Can Eat, Barbecued Meat Bonanza’, the entire surface of the new cooker was ‘lit up’; cooking briskets, ribs, chicken, and sausages during the Sept. 24 event. Prior to the event, folks noted that it occurred on the same date as the Aurora Borealis sponsored ‘Sargent, Victor, and Me’ production; however, Lamontagne stated that the Motor Inn was limited on the dates they could hold their BBQ. He did; however, encourage all those who stopped in for supper to make a night of it and take in the play after they ate.
In other news, those walking or driving by the Snow Lake Mining Museum took note of a new sign that was installed on the afternoon of Wednesday Sept. 14.
“It is all part of the Name the Trail project from last year,” said museum chairperson Paul Hawman of the new addition. “This is the ‘main sign’ that points people to the trails and also the pieces of equipment that we put out around town as “points of interest.”
Hawman says that it took him a while to come up with the design for the sign and what it should say. However, he also admits it took him even longer to make the map and have the sign constructed. Nonetheless, he and Keith (Scotty) Scott hung it in record time!
The new sign replaces an original sign that had ‘old’ trail names depicted on it. The sign was funded by the museum’s Star Attraction Enhancement grant and is the final component of that grant.
My Take on Snow Lake is published on Fridays.
