Richard Haake '87 Resurrects Alumni Weekend Pig Roast

Back in the 1980s when Richard Haake '87 was a Greenie, in addition to all the other festivities held during Alumni Weekend, he remembers a special tradition that took place throughout the night. "There were certain alumni who would come back every year and there was a little covered pavilion that was set up back behind the old Frat House, and they would do a Carolina Pig Roast with cinderblocks and a fire," said Haake, who is Christ School's Alumni Council President. "They would hang out all night cooking the pig and serve pulled pork for lunch the next day." While pork has remained on the Alumni Weekend menu ever since, the pig roast tradition had disappeared. Haake aims to change that this year.

Building on the success of "Beast and Barrel," an event that he hosted this past fall on the eve before the Asheville School game, and the fact that Haake is a former chef who loves cooking for large groups, he volunteered himself and the Alumni Council to host the first Alumni Council Pig Roast. Food will be served Saturday, May 4, at 12:30 p.m.

"This is something that we want to keep going and to rebuild that tradition," Haake said. "The hope is that this event, along with some tinkering with the schedule, will contribute to making the weekend feel a little less formal and a little more celebratory. We want it to feel more festive and convivial. We're moving the lunch closer to the athletic fields so everyone can participate in the events afterwards."

Haake will be doing a traditional Eastern Carolina barbecue with whole hog that was raised at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, just over in Fairview, N.C. "We are getting a quality animal whose worst day was its last, but who had a great life." His brother-in-law and classmate, Sean Haines '87, has agreed to help as well as other members of the Alumni Council, but he welcomes all alumni to participate.

They plan to set up near the tennis courts around 6 p.m. on May 3, and cook through the night, finishing the 12-15 hour roast in time for lunch the next day. "It will have a kind of campout setting and feel," Haake said. "You have to run a separate fire to create the coals to put under the pig, so there will be a nice fire going all night to keep people warm." Haake will use a vinegar-based braise, and Sage Dining will provide sauces and sides. "If people want to come by after the cocktail reception Friday evening to say hello and see what we're doing, I'd be happy to see everybody," said Haake.

"I owned a barbecue restaurant many years ago in Douglasville, Ga., called Old Hickory House," Haake added. "The father of a friend of mine I grew up with started Old Hickory House, and for a summer job I was a pig cook; years later went off to culinary school and came back to Atlanta and we ended up rebranding and opening this restaurant. It was farm to table meets barbecue."

Thanks to Haake, "farm to table meets barbecue" will meet Christ School next month.

If you are interested in helping or would like more information about the Pig Roast, please contact Dan Stevenson '72 at dstevenson@christschool.org.