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Basehor post hosts annual benefit rib sale

The smell of barbecue smoke permeated downtown Basehor for nearly a week recently as Basehor VFW Post 11499 smoked hundreds of slabs of ribs for its annual rib sale. In the end, well over 900 slabs were smoked to meet the pre-order request as well as having some extras available for walk-in customers. Each morning around 5 a.m., VFW members began the task of preparing the 60 to 70 slabs of ribs to be loaded into the smoker to begin the smoking process. Throughout the day, the smoker was loaded and unloaded three times to smoke around 200 slabs each day to meet demand. The rib sale is one of the major fundraisers for the VFW, which expects to earn more than $8,000 to support veterans' projects as well as scholarships and other projects to benefit the Basehor community.In addition to ribs, last year the team also began offering side dishes to make a complete meal. This year, nearby LynnMark provided potato salad, slaw, pasta salad, carrot cakes and brownies as part of the available items for carry-out. The fundraiser began six years ago and continues to grow in popularity each year.Basehor Community Volunteer Carol Stringfellow provided something new this year to the menu offering. She created and packaged nearly 100 pints of homemade vanilla ice cream. Her ice cream recipe included vanilla bean paste, milk, sugar and cream as well as a secret ingredient she uses to make it extra rich and creamy. Stringfellow compares her ice cream recipe to the creaminess of Blue Bell. Made in small batches of just four pints at a time, she was able to make eight pints each day leading up to the rib sale, noting that one of the keys to getting great ice cream is ensuring that the freezer bowl is thoroughly frozen before using it to make the next batch.Stringfellow's brand of ice cream is called Elegante Sweets, inspired by a hotel in Texas named Elegante Suites. The ice cream was so well received by customers that members of the VFW have convinced her to make more ice cream to be offered at the upcoming Basehor Dairy Days Car Show event. In addition to her vanilla flavor, Stringfellow will also offer chocolate and strawberry at the car show which will take place Sept. 14 in the parking lot of Basehor-Linwood High School.VWF members took pre-orders for the ribs and side dishes and VFW member Dave Gunn said that more than 700 slabs were ordered by repeat customers. In addition, the VFW provided more than 40 slabs to the Basehor Police Department, Fairmount Township Fire Department, city of Basehor employees, as well as local schools and administrators. Around 50 people also donated money to provide meals for others, including meals going to local veterans and senior citizens throughout the community."Our rib sale is something we, as well as the community, look forward to each year. This event marks the end of summer and reminds everyone of the good times and fun we've had. All of the work that goes into smoking more than 900 slabs of ribs is something we definitely enjoy doing and sharing with the community," said Gunn.Basehor's VFW Post 11499 is always looking for new members to join their post. They meet the fourth Thursday of each month at the VFW, located in downtown Basehor at 2806 N. 155th St. A social hour begins at 6:15 p.m. prior to a meeting.

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