- December 25, 2024
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Photo by Kyla Sabate
DeLeon Springs' Taylor Rybicki, 9, riding Willie. Photo by Kyla Sabate
Photo by Kyla Sabate
Photo by Kyla Sabate
Photo by Kyla Sabate
DeLeon Springs' Karly Rybicki, 10, riding Sugar. Photo by Kyla Sabate
Randy Buckles. Courtesy photo
Randy Buckles and the barbecue crew. Courtesy photo
The 65th-annual Cracker Day rodeo began with barrel racing on March 26, at the Flagler County Fairgrounds. Lunch began a month earlier.
That's when Randy Buckles and his crew felled, split and stacked blackjack oak, filling a 24-foot trailer. The wood cured for a month before Friday, March 25, when they started burning the wood. The coals were shoveled into pits, and 4,000 pounds of beef was barbecued, with Buckles' 20 crew members tending to it 16 hours, through the night, said Mike Boyd, who has been the president of the Cattlemen's Association for more than 20 years.
The beef is then brought into the kitchen on the morning of the event, where it's sliced and prepared, along with coleslaw and beans, served with bread and a drink. The beef cost $13,500, Boyd said, which is why the association decided to raise the admission price to $20 per person (for the rodeo, with lunch included). The price had been $10 for the past 22 years.
This year's event was dedicated to Buckles.
"Him and his guys have been cooking the meals for us for 35 years, and his daddy did it before him," Boyd said.
According to the commemorative program, when Buckles first started cooking the meal with his father, Victor, they made 150 pounds of beef, compared with 4,000 this weekend.
The weather was perfect.
"We had a good crowd," Boyd said, estimating 2,500 attendees. "We serve a really great meal."
