McCray’s BBQ hosts three-day event to commemorate 90 years in business

A black business in West Palm Beach in 1934 was a hope, an acorn planted with the dream that it could — with proper care and luck — grow into a tall and mighty oak tree.

Today, McCray’s Backyard Barbecue and Seafood is that oak tree, a well-established business with long-standing ties to West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach.

To commemorate 90 years in business, McCray’s is hosting a three-day outdoor event at its West Palm Beach location at 3950 Georgia Avenue. The event, which began Friday and runs through Sunday, features a DJ, pool, art and, of course, food. Lots and lots of food.

Palm Beach County resident Todd Bruno samples some dishes during a 90th anniversary celebration of McCray's Backyard BBQ & Seafood at Peach on Saturday, June 29, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Food has been at the heart of McCray’s since its inception all those years ago. Food and fighting.

“I had to go through some tough times,” said Derrick McCray, the current owner of the business. ” It was very difficult. »

McCray was talking about the business dispute that forced him out of the 45th Street location in Riviera Beach, which customers became aware of. He also spoke about the deaths of his father, Herman McCray Jr., his mother, Lillian McCray, and his brother, Demetrius McCray Sr.

Arthur Sheppard Jr. of Riviera Beach tends to chicken during a 90th anniversary celebration of McCray's Backyard BBQ & Seafood at Peach on Saturday.

They all took turns running the company founded in 1934 by Derrick McCray’s great-great aunt and her husband, Jay Harvey.

West Palm Beach was a very different city then. Its population was approaching 30,000, a far cry from its current 117,000.

Today, Florida is all about sunshine and palm trees, but then it was a mosquito-infested area, often inhospitable to black people in general, let alone black people having the audacity to open a business.

From left: Darrell Fullington, Duane D'Andrea and Anthony Carter sample food at a 90th anniversary celebration of McCray's Backyard BBQ & Seafood at Peach on Saturday.

Larry Little, Miami Dolphins legend and longtime friend of Derrick McCray, said he knew it couldn’t have been an easy road.

“I heard him tell the story of the hell his grandfather went through in Palm Beach County,” said Little, who, like another former NFL star, Anthony Carter, stopped by Saturday to join the celebration and enjoy some barbecue.

Sandy Smith, of West Palm Beach, prepares an order during a 90th anniversary celebration of McCray's Backyard BBQ & Seafood at the Peach.

It was all smiles on Georgia Avenue on Saturday, as children splashed in the pool, music blared and Derrick McCray’s many friends and relatives came to give him hugs and hugs.

McCray, once a star athlete who made it to the NFL, was in an expansive mood, trying to tell a little of his company’s history as people came into a small studio near his business to say hello.

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