LIFE Fires Up the Barbecue

1 minute read

If there’s one consolation during the scorching, often unbearably humid days of summer, it’s the prospect of being outdoors with friends and family, swapping stories and enjoying a cold beverage as a huge variety of food cooks on a nearby grill, filling the air with the mouthwatering aroma of a good old-fashioned barbecue.

Here, on Fourth of July weekend, LIFE.com offers up a selection of photographs celebrating one of the season’s time-honored traditions: the picnic and barbecue, or barbeque, or BBQ. However you spell it, it still translates as “delicious.”

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Backyard barbecue, 1953.
Backyard barbecue, 1953.Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
One of only thirteen American women — known as the Mercury 13 — to participate in NASA's Mercury space program, Jerrie Cobb (left) barbecues in 1959.
One of only thirteen American women — known as the Mercury 13 — to participate in NASA's Mercury space program, Jerrie Cobb (left) barbecues in 1959.Ralph Crane—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Jerrie Cobb keeps watch over the grill, 1959.
Jerrie Cobb keeps watch over the grill, 1959.Ralph Crane—TIME & LIFE Pictrues/Getty Images
Barbecue, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1953.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Family barbecue, 1960.Ralph Crane—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Family barbecue, 1960.Ralph Crane—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Eliot Elisofon—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Beach barbecue, Massachusetts, 1953.
Beach barbecue, Massachusetts, 1953.Eliot Elisofon—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Beach barbecue, Florida, 1956.Lisa Larsen—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Fraternity picnic and barbecue, UCLA, 1940s.
Fraternity picnic and barbecue, UCLA, 1940s.Walter Sanders—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Florida barbecue, 1961.Lynn Pelham—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Vermont barbecue, 1957.
Vermont barbecue, 1957.Walter Sanders—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
Vermont barbecue, 1957.
Vermont barbecue, 1957.Walter Sanders—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
John D. Lodge (in the suit), the governor of Connecticut from 1951-55, surveys the scene at a salmon barbecue in 1953.
John D. Lodge (in the suit), the governor of Connecticut from 1951-55, surveys the scene at a salmon barbecue in 1953.Ed Clark—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
A gathering of well-dressed guests at a barbecue in Fairfield County, Conn., 1949.
A gathering of well-dressed guests at a barbecue in Fairfield County, Conn., 1949.Nina Leen—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com