The smell of smoking hickory and oak rose from the back door of Hite’s Barbeque on the Fourth of July. Cars full of hungry drivers filled the parking lot at 240 Dreher Rd, West Columbia.

“It’s our biggest day of the year,” said David Hite, owner of Hite’s.
Preparation begins for the weekend early Thursday. Rows and rows of ribs and chicken smoked on Hite’s grill on Independence Day.

When it’s all over, from Friday through Monday, Hite’s will have cooked 220 hams at 25 pounds each; 700 half-chickens; 400 gallons of hash; and 360 racks of ribs. And it all sells out. There are no leftovers.

For Hite, it’s another one in the books. “I’ve been getting up before dawn to come over here and cook barbeque since I was eight or nine years old,” Hite said. His father, Jerry Hite, would wake him up to come help cook. Hite’s has been in business since 1957.