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Rick Thomas plays Southern Rock during the Fame Preservation Group’s benefit barbecue party on Saturday, August 17.

Creighton Lovelace gives a speech during the Fame Barbecue Festival.

SALISBURY – The Fame Preservation Group held its third annual fundraising barbecue Saturday, raising more than $2,200 for the installation of a historical monument near the Old Lutheran Cemetery.

The group had raised a similar amount the previous year to erect a headstone at the cemetery, which contains a large, unmarked burial site of Confederate veterans. But there were problems getting city approval to erect the headstone, President Gregory Lambeth said. The organization had raised the money to fulfill a bid from Salisbury Marble and Granite for a headstone that would fit in front of the Fame Monument and blend in with the cemetery’s surroundings. But the ruling forced the alignment to be changed.

“We will be conducting research and reaching out to various agencies over the next week to determine the best path to move our historic road marker project forward in the larger picture, and we would like to use our hard-earned donations to give back to the community,” Lambeth wrote in an email Monday.

The event’s official fundraising total was $2,214, Lambeth said, and $1,954 of that was raised by event attendees and the other $260 came from a $20 fee charged to the festival’s vendors and sponsors. Lambeth said he did not have official attendance figures, but he estimated that about 200 people attended the event during the four hours it lasted at the Stars and Bars Tavern on Klumac Road.

“We are here to raise awareness, we are here to raise money, but most of all we are here to lift spirits,” said Creighton Lovelace, who spoke at the barbecue.

Last year, the organization had planned a live auction and cornhole as part of the festivities, but Lambeth said the organization decided to eliminate those in favor of more live music and vendor space. The organization also advised all speakers to only talk about historical topics rather than social or political issues to keep the event on track.

One of those was the nonprofit organization Veteran’s Creed Outdoors, whose North Carolina chapter director, Ben Pierce, a Salisbury resident, reached out to the Fame Preservation Group in hopes of raising awareness and donations during the event. The organization aims to support veterans, active military personnel and public safety workers, including police and correctional officers, firefighters, dispatchers and nurses, by giving them opportunities to experience the outdoors, such as fishing, hunting or camping.

“I think the best example of what we do is our recent trip to Cherokee with 14 veterans and their children. One of them said afterward, ‘This trip saved my life. Two weeks ago I wanted to end it all, but I had something to look forward to.’ And that’s why we do it,” Pierce said.

Pierce himself is a retired police officer and said he joined the organization as a staff member before taking over the North Carolina branch when the previous director retired.

Fame Preservation Group is still a relatively new nonprofit organization, having received its 501(c)(3) status in April 2023 after being incorporated in the state since November 2021.

“FAME stands for Faith, Lineage, Monuments and Education, which FPG relies on. Through faith we have hope and courage to look forward; through lineage we identify and honor the individual Confederate veterans of Rowan County; through our monument we support the art and compassion expressed through their grace; and through education our organization exists to educate the public about Confederate sacrifices in Rowan through the Fame Confederate Monument with faith in our intentions by the grace of God,” Lambeth said in a previous Salisbury Post article about the meaning behind the organization’s name.