A couple of times each year, those traveling on U.S. Highway 30 through the eastern side of Carroll will see the nationally recognized Cookies Bar “B” Q brand on their rib wagon. Owner, Speed Herrig, and his staff sell ribs and pulled pork from the truck and donate the proceeds to New Hope Village. And even though they had to operate in the midst of a pandemic this time around, Herrig says the mid-May turnout was tremendous. Not only did they run out of ribs two days in a row, but one man even drove up from Adel just to get some of this BBQ. Herrig says the number of people fed and the amount of food prepared surpassed all other years.
Herrig estimates they went through a little over 500 racks of ribs and about 800 pounds of pulled pork. The phenomenal sales allowed Cookies to donate $10,000 to New Hope Village in Carroll, a place that Herrig and his family members have supported for years.
He adds that he knows this particular donation has made his late wife very happy.
Herrig says they have never been able to make such a large donation and they generally average around $4,000 to $6,000. He says it was a steady stream of people at the Carroll event who either practiced social distancing in line or waited in their cars for their takeout order that resulted in this record-breaking total.
The rib wagon is stocked for each event based on previous sales. This time, however, Herrig says it was a very good thing they were so close to Wall Lake because they had to call back and get another 100 racks of ribs ready for the next day.
