The community came together to host a fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
The Fort Myers community came together in a big way to support a much-loved barbecue spot last weekend. Even the rain from Hurricane Debby held off.
For years, when people passed the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Cranford Avenue in Fort Myers, they couldn’t help but smell the mouthwatering barbecue and see the smoke wafting up to the sky. That was McCarter’s Barbecue, a local institution in Fort Myers for sixty years.
McCarter's BBQ Rehab Fundraiser
Willie McCarter is the owner. His parents started the business in the 1960s in Fort Myers and moved to this corner in the mid 70s. It’s one of the oldest small businesses operating continuously in Fort Myers, and people are used to seeing Willie McCarter behind the smoker.
But like many businesses in Southwest Florida, McCarter’s Barbecue was destroyed by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. McCarter was forced to do the cooking in a tent.
“When Ian hit, I had just put a new roof on the building itself, and the hurricane came in. Two weeks later, Ian blew it right back off again. So that's why now I have no way of fixing it. So I was working from the tent,” McCarter said on Saturday.
If that wasn’t bad enough, McCarter needed a total knee replacement after cooking barbecue all day, seven days a week. And that was when the neighbors noticed that the smoke was not wafting from the tent like usual.
Tracy McMillion is a family friend and Fire Chief of Fort Myers. He helped organize Saturday’s event, where people could buy barbecue meals to help fundraise for McCarter’s to rebuild.
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Everett Brocka holds his son Everett Brocka IV at a barbecue fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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“I’m so grateful. I never thought this would happen to me,” said Willie McCarter before the fundraiser to help him make repairs to his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Ericka Augustis, left, and her son Kevin cook corn during the barbecue fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Martha Zehner, center, eats with Erleene Sanders and Stacy Brown during a fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Willie McCarter, center, chats with family and guests at a fundraiser to help McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked the meal.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Stephanie Webley takes a bite of pulled pork at a fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Alex Adams fills a plate at a fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Fort Myers Fire Chief Tracy McMillion was one of many volunteers working at a fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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The community came together to host a fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Tracy McMillion carries meals for customers at a fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Willie McCarter, right, greets a guest who came to support McCarter during a fundraiser to help him repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Bobby Tyler Sr. and Fort Myers Fire Chief Tracy McMillion stack plates of chicken and pulled pork during a fundraiser to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant, McCarter's BBQ, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024 in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers prepared the meals since McCarter is recovering from knee surgery.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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Willie McCarter, center, chats with family and guests at a fundraiser to help McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked the meal.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
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The community came together to host a fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, to help Willie McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked chicken and pulled pork with corn, beans and coleslaw.
Amanda Inscore Whittamore / WGCU
“The community is all based upon Mr. Willie's involvement. Everyone loves it. They have a Mr. Willie story, whether they're taking their kids to school and seeing the beautiful smoke, or smelling the flavors, everyone has a story. And he's just been such an icon for the last 60 years, their family being in business. It's just amazing, the impact,” said McMillion.
Saturday’s meal raised just over $6,000 for the rebuilding, according to McMillion.
Jordan Roe is the pastor of Mission Community Church, which helped host the weekend fundraiser. His church is right next door to the restaurant, and he’s a fan not only of the ribs, but of the whole spirit of McCarter's.
“It's a place of not just commerce-like transaction, you buy barbecue,” said Roe. “It's a place of friendship. There's so much laughter and joy happening there.”
McCarter himself was overwhelmed with the event on Saturday.
“I didn't know that many people cared about me,” he said. “I really didn't. I had been out here a long time. I tried to treat people right, but I didn't think that many people really cared about me to see how they're coming together and doing stuff for me. Because I can't do it myself, I can't rebuild the building, I can't do this, I can't do that. I'm just so thankful, like I was telling them earlier, I have to hold back tears. If you treat people right, they'll come and be there for you. And it's showing now, it's definitely showing. I'm grateful. I can't get out and do what I used to do. But now it's showing that what I've done for people over the years, they show me that they appreciate it.”
Amanda Inscore Whittamore
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WGCU
Willie McCarter, center, chats with family and guests at a fundraiser to help McCarter repair and reopen his restaurant on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Fort Myers. Fort Myers firefighters and other community volunteers cooked the meal.
On September 28, there will be another event, called Southern Tapas and Wine, to help raise money for McCarter’s Barbecue.
Jessica Lindsey was at the event with her family, and she summed it up for just about everyone enjoying McCarter’s barbecue:
“I love coming through this intersection here. You just small barbecue as soon as you come to come close to Cranford, So we definitely have to support that aroma.”
To donate to McCarter's Rehab, follow this QR code.
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