Fire departments ready to turn up the heat in friendly competition at Rockton-Roscoe Rotary’s Rib Fest

By Marianne Mueller

Reporter

Family fun is coming to Viking Lanes in South Beloit on Saturday, July 20 as Fire departments from Shirland, Rockton, and Roscoe prepare to turn up the heat on their competition at the 2024 Rockton-Roscoe Rotary Rib Fest.

Try your favorite ribs, each made from special recipes and take a vote to help one of the departments earn the coveted “People’s Choice” Award.

Come out to Viking Lanes in South Beloit with action starting at 11 a.m., and running until 2 p.m., or until they run out of ribs.

Admission is $10 per person, which includes rib tasting, sides and a chance to cast a vote on your favorite ribs.

“This event grows to be more popular every year,” Rib Fest Chair, Ted Rehl said. He adds, “We plan to serve at least 150 people.”

This is one of many ways the Rotary’s legacy of “Service above Self” comes into play.

Rotary International’s tagline is “People of Action.”

The club was chartered on June 3, 1959, and had 22 members. They met on Mondays at noon at the Wagon Wheel and the president was George Wm. Franzen.

The name was originally the Rotary Club of Rockton, Ill., and it represented Rockton, Roscoe, Shirland, and Harrison. In time the club name was changed to the Rotary Club of Northern Winnebago County and was again changed to the Rotary Club of Rockton-Roscoe in November 2019.

Under the direction of current Rotary President Clint Czizek, and President Elect Glenn Terry, the Rotary Club’s 18 members consistently remain involved in and around the communities they serve.

The Rockton-Roscoe Rotary took part in the first ever Non-Profit Night in October of 2019.

Since January of 2020 they have served and provided breakfast for Carpenters Place in Rockford, an outreach that continues today. They have extended help to the Rockford Rescue Mission.

Another to benefit from the Rotary’s generosity is the South Beloit Food Pantry where they help with deliveries of food to the cars (drive-thru).

In 2022, the club participated in the Rockford One Million Meal Packing event.

Rotary blood drives have aided in saving lives.

In July 2020 the club participated in the assembly of 3,125 face shields, and also donated 100 (each) face shields to both Fair Oaks in South Beloit and Highview in the Woodlands in Rockton.

Also in October of 2020 members worked toward goals of eradicating Polio at the “End Polio Now Walk,” organizing a walk at Hononegah High School to raise funds for the Polio Plus Foundation (Rotary International).

The walk’s mission is to raise funds and to raise awareness. There are two countries left in the world not considered polio-free; Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As part of an important Literacy Project the Rockton-Roscoe club have purchased quality books for school children. This year, the Rotary donated more than 170 books that were presented to the local elementary, middle and high schools and across Illinois.

Librarians in Rockton, Roscoe, Shirland, and South Beloit as well as North Suburban Library Roscoe, and Talcott Free Library are also provided with books.

Each year the librarians challenge the students to read each of the books but they don’t always have enough copies for all of the children who are interested.

The Rotary supplements the number of books. The Rotary has received grant monies in various years from Rotary International that helped increase the amount of books that can be donated.

The Rockton-Roscoe Rotary was the winner of a “sustained literacy award” at the Rotary district 6420 Conference in April of 2024.

The Rotary is a strong supporter of the Winnebago County 4-H program with sponsorship for the Grand Champion Overall Pair-Pen of Standard Chickens and the Champion Computer Generated Art.

In 2022, they organized a CEANCI (Career Education Assistance of North Central Illinois) Design the Design competition. CEANCI is a program with the mission to prepare and to invest in all students for career and college through partnerships that build innovative regional opportunities.

The club collaborated with Hononegah High School’s graphic arts class where a female student from HCHS created a new brochure for the Rotary.

A hybrid program allows members to meet both in person and virtually. Meetings are held the first and third Wednesday of each month at Sophia’s Restaurant in Roscoe, with social events coming to life each quarter.

Future goals include a hopeful introduction of an “Interact Club” to be incorporated in one of local schools.

The Interact Club is Rotary for ages 12-18. It is a service club that will have a minimum of two events in the fiscal year, one that impacts the school and one that either has an impact or a focus in the community.

The Rotary also sponsors inbound exchange students.

There are several ways to contact the Rockton-Roscoe Rotary Club. Go to their website at https://portal.clubrunner.ca/8404/, or E-mail a club member.

Another option is to go through the Rotary International’s website at – https://www.rotary.org/en/getinvolved/join. Go to www.rotary.org and click the JOIN button on the top right-hand side of the page.

Facebook is an easy way to connect with the club at http://www.facebook.com/rocktonroscoerotary.

Volunteers continue making a difference through the Rotary Club.

Support from events such as Rib Fest help them achieve outreach goals.

All proceeds from this event will be used to fund the Rotary Scholarship fund. In the past four years a total of nearly $20,000 has been raised to give scholarships to seniors from Hononegah High School and South Beloit High School.