The 1st ‘Mike McComas Memorial is a 20-year tradition that has run alongside ‘Burnin’ the Bricks.’ Mike McComas and his closest friends would host a barbecue at the Ogden & Son Building every year. It’s always been free to anyone, just a place to come eat during the downtown event, with donations accepted. But this year, with the passing of Mike, the group decided to do something different, in his honor. While the barbecue will still run exactly as it always has, this year, they’ll have live music.
“The band was a new idea, we’d always been a part of Burnin’ the Bricks,” Steve Beckham said. “Roy Lott and Mike always have done a barbecue, I’m just sponsoring them and making it all free. We’re hoping to do something bigger next year. But this is all about Burnin’ the Bricks. This year our thing will be a celebration of the life of Mike McComas.”
The event will take place at 501 W. Foster from 7 pm to 9 pm, with a four-hour gig from the Ghost of Gray County. Roy Lott has been at the helm of this yearly event with Mike McComas every year.
“They don’t do this for money,” Beckham said. “They do this every year, just as something to do with the best barbecue you can get.”
The event this year will be sponsored in honor of Mike by Utility Tire, B&K Auto Group, and B&G Electric.
“B&G is donating a lot to us,” Beckham said. “We didn’t want to take any sponsors from Burnin’ the Bricks. So we said we’d put this on all on our own without taking away from anyone.”
The cookout started with friends wanting to do something for friends and family to watch the cars downtown.
“This was Mike’s dream, he was a real car enthusiast,” Roy Lott said. “So this year is a memorial for him, it’s grown over the years into much larger than just friends and family. We don’t want it all to be about Mike, of course, we want to honor him but it’s still all about Burnin’ the Bricks which Mike wanted.”
From a last-minute plan, the group has quickly put together what will be another amazing thing to attend while downtown on June 10th. Firecreek has donated food to the event, Bill Allen and Open Range have donated their trailer to help cook, and Brian Smith is another part of the group that’s been with the group from the beginning and is donating the restrooms for the event.
“There are so many people from over the years that have helped and continue to help,” Lott said. “Evan Meschke, Justin Atkins, Matt McComas and his family, Raymond Douglas, and Billy Brown. This group has become a family and we’ve come together every year. We’ve had all kinds of cars at the event, from drag cars to jeeps and rock crawler clubs, even airplane people. Matt wanted this to keep going on, he approached us and wants to continue doing this in his father’s honor. We want to make sure it’s all about Burnin’ the Bricks, that’s what we came together about and still come to today.”
