--- ---  # LIFE Fires Up the Barbecue by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 31, 2012 3:16 PM UTC  Backyard barbecue, 1953. Backyard barbecue, 1953.Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 31, 2012 3:16 PM UTC 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_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  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. Ralph Crane—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  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. Eliot Elisofon—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  Beach barbecue, Florida, 1956. Lisa Larsen—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  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. Walter Sanders—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  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. Ed Clark—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images  A gathering of well-dressed guests at a barbecue in Fairfield County, Conn., 1949. Nina Leen—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images Barbecues: Vintage Photos of a Summertime Tradition ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3874080/life-fires-up-the-barbecue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3874080/life-fires-up-the-barbecue/"},"headline":"LIFE Fires Up the Barbecue","datePublished":"2012-08-31T15:16:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:55.346Z","description":"On Fourth of July weekend, LIFE offers up a selection of photographs celebrating one of the season's tastiest traditions: the barbecue.","url":"https://time.com/3874080/life-fires-up-the-barbecue/","keywords":["Culture","Food","photography","party","holiday","Barbecue","black and white photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8458e059c9edf5/69868561e8524b5d8d601cdc/01_00815083.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e8458e059c9edf5/69868561e8524b5d8d601cdc/01_00815083.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Backyard barbecue, 1953","caption":"Backyard barbecue, 1953.","creditText":"Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/culture/","name":"Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3874080/life-fires-up-the-barbecue/","name":"LIFE Fires Up the Barbecue"}}]}] ```