Dorchester Times: Dorchester’s Third Annual Rib Cook-Off, Fun Run Set For Aug. 15

Friday, August 7, 2026

Dorchester’s Third Annual Rib Cook-Off, Fun Run Set For Aug. 15

The smell of barbecue smoke will fill downtown Dorchester on Saturday, Aug. 15, as the Dorchester Community Foundation Fund and Dorchester American Legion host the community’s third annual Rib Cook-Off Competition.

Everyone from near and far is encouraged to join in for a full day of food, music and activities.

The rib competition will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. near the Dorchester American Legion. Teams will be competing for cash prizes and -- perhaps more importantly -- local bragging rights. First place will receive $200, second place $100, and third place $50.

Organizers are limiting the competition to 25 entries, with an entry deadline of Sunday, Aug. 9. The cost is $40 per team, with one cooker allowed per team or individual. (To register, email dhayek@farmersco-operative.com or call 402-641-4075.) Completed entry forms may be emailed or dropped off to Dale Hayek at Farmers Cooperative in Dorchester.

Competitors will receive at least four racks of ribs supplied by organizers, as cook-off teams can begin setting up at 7:45 a.m. with approximately 12-by-12-foot cooking spaces assigned. Ribs will be delivered to the cooking area at 10 a.m. Judging will be blind, with entries scored on appearance, tenderness, and taste. Each team must submit four individual ribs for judging, with turn-in scheduled for 4 p.m.

All-Day Event With Music

Keep in mind that you won’t have to wait until supper to find something to eat.

The Legion will kick off the day with a breakfast buffet from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for a free-will donation. The free-will donation supper will begin at 5 p.m., featuring pork sandwiches, ribs, pork and beans, coleslaw, chips and a drink.

After the grills cool down, the evening will continue with a Legion beer garden and street dance featuring Hardwood Dash.

Burn Off Calories With a Fun Run

Those looking to work up an appetite before breakfast can also take part in a Fun Run beginning at Dorchester Park. Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. Questions about the run can be directed to Kelli Kohout at kelli.kohout@dorchesterschool.org.

From an early-morning run and breakfast to sizzling ribs and an evening street dance, Aug. 15 is shaping up to be a full summer Saturday in Dorchester.

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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."