Smoking buildings and firefighters are synonymous, but twice a year the Elberta Volunteer Fire Department gets smoky on purpose. Hungry festival goers stood in line Saturday as the roof of a cookout building in the center of town billowed sausage-flavored smoke. The Elberta German Sausage Festival serves as a fundraiser for the fire department and town improvements each March and October. This spring, they smoked 6,000 pounds of sausage. The festival also featured other food options such as boiled peanuts, crawfish, red beans and rice and roasted corn. Attendees could browse rows of vendors while listening to German music. The festival was named the best community event in Gulf Coast Media’s 2023 Best of Baldwin readers choice contest.