Submitted Photo West Virginia-based violinist Jennifer Wood is one of the outstanding musicians who come from throughout the country to perform in the Opera House’s annual Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival. The Festival is supported by the Bach BBQ, Bake Sale and Basket Auction, to be this year starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House will hold a chicken BBQ fund-raiser on Saturday, in Fredonia’s West Barker Common near the Gazebo. A Bake Sale and Basket Auction also will be a part of the event. All proceeds benefit the Opera House’s annual Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival.

Opera House Executive Director Rick Davis says that the event is usually held in June just prior to the annual Bach & Beyond Festival. “But this year,” he says, “we postponed it due to too many other similar events happening the same weekend. So, we’re looking at this as maybe being one of the last chicken BBQs of the summer; and we hope we have a good turnout!”

BBQ by Hector Alverio will provide the food for the event. Each meal includes a half chicken, corn on the cob, baby red potatoes, and a roll with butter. BBQ tickets are $14 and can be purchased in advance from Opera House Board and staff members, at the Opera House Box Office and online at www.fredopera.org. Any unsold tickets can be purchased in the park on the day of the BBQ.

A variety of delicious baked goods also will be for sale at the Sept. 17 event. And four baskets created using an “eat, drink and be merry” theme will be raffled off using a Basket Auction format. In addition to the baskets, an original watercolor painting by Vermont artist Gary Eckhart, and an original Lawrence Urbscheit pastel donated by Melissa Sorci Taft are part of the auction.

The Bake Sale and the Basket Auction will begin at 9 a.m. The BBQ lunches will be served starting at 11 a.m.

“We hope people will come visit us and support the fundraiser when they come downtown for the weekly farmers’ market!” says Davis.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.