It was Hanson’s biggest barbecue ever, and as usual, the price was right.

More than 1,200 people from on and off the island jammed the parking lots around Bayview this past Friday afternoon to participate in Hanson’s Building Supply’s annual free gift to the community.

“We were expecting 2,000,” said Dan Gregory, a longtime Hanson’s employee who coordinated the whole shebang. “It’s still a miracle we pulled it off.”

There were 1,000 pounds of salmon, 250 pounds of hot dogs,

250 pounds of hamburger and more than enough buns, cole slaw, watermelon and soda pop to go around, Gregory said.

There were as many as 30 vendors and plenty of fun and games, with giveaways worth about $4,000, he added.

Local celebrity emcee Jim Freeman rolled out his top-drawer jokes, to the delight of off-islanders who were encountering Whidbey’s Conductor of Fun for the first time, and pilots in four home-built aircraft performed maneuvers above the crowd on the warm, sunny afternoon.

“Pretty cool stuff,” said Gregory, who has worked at Hanson’s for 26 years. “It was a huge success and a lot of fun.”

Gregory was assisted in putting on the barbecue this year by Hanson’s office manager Michelle Sterba, who also helped Freeman keep things moving briskly.

For the past 20 years, Hanson’s founder, Victor E. Hanson of Langley, has footed the bill for the barbecues to thank the community for its patronage.

Hanson’s opened 30 years ago, and is the island’s longest operating building supply company. It has done business throughout the world, and has logged as much as $10 million in sales annually, Gregory said.

Because the crowd, the largest ever, still fell short of the number anticipated, there was plenty of leftover food, which was donated to worthy local causes, Gregory said.

He said 200 pounds of salmon were handed over the South Whidbey Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels program, along with 18 pounds of cole slaw and a few large cans of baked beans.

Leftover bread and sodas also were delivered to the Good Cheer Food Bank in Bayview, Gregory said.

The barbecue lasted for nearly four hours. After that, four hours in the evening were taken up with a free dance sponsored by Hanson’s at American Legion Post 141, a short distance down Highway 525.

About 400 people attended the dance, Gregory said.

He said that until two years ago, the company sponsored smaller barbecues until deciding to shoot the works for Hanson’s 30th anniversary. He said next year the event will probably be dialed back a bit.

But whatever the scale, the free festivities will remain true to their original purpose, Gregory said.

“It’s all about community, family and friends,” he said. “It showed that even in hard times, people can have a good time.”