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You expect to see Roy Rogers or Dale Evans riding down this High Point Street on Trigger or Buttermilk.

Everyone at Brett and Christi Barbour’s house has on a yellow bandana. There are no horses, but there is definitely an appetizing smell of barbecuing meat filling the air.

Neighbors out working in their yards are sniffing and licking their lips. Yum!

Everyone knows it must be time for a Yellow Bandana Evening, a fundraiser for the Mental Health Association in High Point.

This is the second year the Barbours have hosted the event at their home.

In addition to his hosting duties, Brett Barbour is assistant chef to Michael Beaver.

The Aug. 28 event will also feature a DJ.

“The DJ played a great mix of music at the last barbecue and kept everyone moving on the dance floor,” Brett Barbour said. “We also have several local sponsors offering gift certificates for door prizes and there will be items for a raffle.”

Beaver was chief chef last year and will be again this year. Last year was his first year on the board of the Mental Health Association.

Beaver said his recipe is an “old-school” charcoal technique. “The most important ingredient is time. We cook on a low temperature for a long time. We start the cooking at 5 a.m. for the 6 p.m. meal. The sauce is a quick prep. Last year we cooked 16 Boston butts.”

He verified that the delicious aroma travels throughout the neighborhood.

Brewer didn’t give any secrets away about the sauce. You will have to come taste it and see if you can figure out the ingredients.

“Our needs are greater than ever,” Ellen Cochran, the executive director of the Mental Health Association in High Point, said. “We are serving more clients with fewer resources.”

She said cuts in the Medicaid program in October affected the association.

The High Point Mental Health Association actively serves the community by providing quality services to severely mentally ill citizens in Guilford Country and parts of Davidson County and Randolph County.

One of the local components is Destiny House, a psychosocial rehabilitation day program that teaches life skills such as housekeeping and grocery shopping. The program addresses socialization skills and education.

In August , the association offered outpatient service for the first time. Seventy-five clients participated in that program.

The MHAHP is the only agency that offers supported employment for the mentally ill through contacts with the N.C. Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

The two support groups — the Crossroads Support Group and the Zenith Group — offer information, education and support for clients, their families and friends.

The staff at the Mental Health Association says that after all their program needs are met, if they had a wish list, a piano keyboard would be on it. Many of their clients are musical and the keyboard could be used in some of their programs. (If any High Pointers have one not being used, call the Mental Health Association in High Point.)

For more information about the work of the Mental Health Association in High Point, contact Cochran at 883-7480 or visit the website at mhahp.org.

If you have news of High Point, contact me at mjohnson2@triad.rr.com