SALISBURY — The Fame Preservation Group hosted its third annual barbecue fundraiser on Saturday, raising over $2,200 to place a historical marker near the Old Lutheran Cemetery.

The group raised a similar amount the prior year in order to install a stone marker at the cemetery, which contains a large, unmarked gravesite of Confederate veterans, but ran into issues with getting the installation of the marker approved by the city, said President Gregory Lambeth. The organization had raised the money to fulfill a quote for a headstone that would fit in front of the Fame monument and fit the cemetery’s environment that had been given by Salisbury Marble and Granite, but had to change direction due to the ruling.

“We’ll be researching in the next week and making contact with various outlets to determine which avenue will be best to pursue our roadside historical marker project at large and we’re eager to use our hard-earned donations to give back to the community,” wrote Lambeth in an email on Monday.

The official amount of funding raised by the event was $2,214, said Lambeth, and $1,954 of that was raised by attendees of the event and the other $260 were raised from a $20 fee charged to vendors and sponsors of the festival. Lambeth said that he did not have an official attendance count, but he estimated that approximately 200 people attended the event at the Stars and Bars Tavern on Klumac Road throughout the four hours it lasted.

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

Last year, the organization included a live auction and cornhole as part of the festivities, but Lambeth said that the organization chose to nix those in favor of having more live music and vendor space. The organization also advised all of the speakers to only speak about historical topics instead of social or political topics to keep the event on course.

One of those was the Veteran’s Creed Outdoors nonprofit, whose North Carolina chapter leader Ben Pierce, a Salisbury resident, reached out to Fame Preservation Group in hopes of raising awareness and donations during the event. The organization is aimed at assisting veterans, active military and public safety personnel, including law enforcement and corrections officers, firefighters, dispatchers and nurses by giving them opportunities to enter the outdoors, including by fishing, hunting or camping trips.

“I think the best example of what we do, we took a trip recently to Cherokee with 14 veterans and their kids. Afterwards, one said, ‘This trip saved my life. Two weeks ago I was going to end it all, but I had this trip to look forward to.’ And that’s why we do this,” said Pierce.

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

The Fame Preservation Group is still a relatively new nonprofit, as it achieved its 501(c)(3) status in April of 2023 after being incorporated with the state since November of 2021.

“F.A.M.E., meaning Faith, Ancestry, Monuments and Education for the FPG to run on. Through faith, we have hope and courage moving forward; through ancestry, we identify and recognize the individual Confederate veterans of Rowan County; through our monument, we rally behind the art and compassion illustrated through her grace; and through education, our organization exists to educate the public of the sacrifices made by Rowan’s Confederate Dead through the Fame Confederate Monument with the faith of our intentions by the grace of God,” said Lambeth in a prior Salisbury Post article about the meaning behind the organization’s name.