Owego Hose Team host annual Chicken BBQ on October 16

Owego Hose Teams, Inc. is hosting their fall chicken barbeque on Saturday, Oct. 16, from 11 a.m. until gone, and with pickup at Croton Hose Co. #3 Fire Station, located at 8 Talcott St. in the Flats. Proceeds will benefit the Hose Team’s 1866 Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine Restoration and Steamer House project.

“We look forward to serving the Flats and greater Owego community our famous Hose Team chicken,” said Hose Team Treasurer John Loftus, adding, “People really love it and come in from all over the place. In the spring we had orders from Binghamton and Ithaca.”  

The menu includes “Cornell Chicken” halves, the Duke’s baked beans, salt potatoes, and Roma roll for $10. Take-out, drive thru, or home delivery is available.  

The Hose Team chicken barbeques typically sell out in an hour or two, so preorder is strongly recommended. You can preorder and pay online at the Hose Team’s website, www.OwegoHoseTeams.com under the “Events Tab, via email to owegohoseteams@gmail.com, or by calling (202) 494-9108.

Chicken barbeques hosted by the Hose Team are a family favorite in Owego.  Dr. Robert Baker, a professor emeritus of the Department of Animal Sciences at the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, invented this Central New York specialty. The Hose Team sticks to the exact sauce receipt developed by Dr. Baker that is apple cider vinegar based. 

Another Central New York staple, salt potatoes, is also part of the meal. The Syracuse area has a long history of salt production from the salt springs located around Onondaga Lake, and is nicknamed “Salt City.” During the 1800s, Irish salt miners would bring a bag of small, unpeeled potatoes to work each day at the mines. At lunchtime, they boiled the potatoes in salt brine for a hearty lunch meal.