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Say it isn't so! The kids are back at school and summer is winding down to its last hurrah. But before you drag your Weber back into the shed and toss the death shroud, er, tarp over it, light up the coals one last time, gather your friends and family, and raise your tongs to end of the sunshine season. Or, get all up in someone else's grill and try their cooking. Two Sunday barbecues are coming up with cooks at the ready. Here are your options.

SoHum knows how to sizzle. Over at the Mattole Grange it's lit at the Beef & Beans Deep Pit BBQ on Sunday, Sept. 3 from noon to 3 p.m. ($15, $10 children 6-12, free for kids under 6). This deep pit, all-night roasted beef and traditional recipe beans meal could just be the grand finale for all your summer barbecues. Toss in roasted Shively sweet corn, drinks, pie, a Women's Club Benefit Raffle, games and prizes, and you've got a perfect day. Help out by bringing your own cutlery and a side dish.

You know the old adage: Where there's smoke, there's something happening at the Mateel Community Center. Follow your nose to the SoHum Beer Fest and BBQ Smoke Off Sunday, Sept. 3 from 4 to 9 p.m. (See how that works out? Take a half hour for your grange dinner to digest and head over to the Mateel for more. You're welcome.) Sample and vote for your favorite barbecue and beers, and enjoy live music with Diggin Dirt and Way Out West on the Mateel Back 40 ($30 beer/food/music, $15 food/music). Unlimited micro/homebrew tastings in a commemorative tasting glass, barbecue samplers and sides. Unlimited, you say? How mesquite it is.