Local residents are invited to show support for Valley View Downs and Casino at a barbecue and rally.

Local developer Carmen Shick is hosting Racino Rally ’08 beginning at 2 p.m. Friday at Ambrosia Enterprises at the corner of Routes 422 and 551.

The event is free and the public is welcome.

“We want to show the Gaming Control Board that the community supports Centaur, the racino and the 2,500 jobs it is expected to bring to Lawrence County,” Shick said.

The rally date is almost four years to the day after his original race track and casino rally — a rainy event on Sept. 8, 2004. That’s when the Pennsylvania State Harness Commission members held a public hearing at the proposed site of the harness racetrack and casino at Route 422 and Baird Road.

Again, Texas Pit BBQ of Austin will be cooking the food.

“Every summer they do a rib tour of the area,” he said of Texas Pit. He noted that they recently participated in the Rib Burn-Off at the Chevy Center in Youngstown.

In addition to food, several speakers will talk of benefits the anticipated $455 million facility planned by Centaur Inc. of Indianapolis will bring, and how important the proposed project is to Lawrence County.