Warren County Jailer Stephen Harmon took a moment to pause Thursday morning, watching as the line to pick up barbecue orders began to stretch across the SoKY Marketplace pavilion.

“There’ll be lots of sweat had today, but it’s all for his recovery and family,” the jailer said. “We’re lucky. This will be a good day.”

He would not be disappointed.

Hundreds of community members, vendors and law enforcement personnel packed under the marketplace roof to share a smoky meal for a good cause – raising funds for Matt Davis of the Bowling Green Police Department.

Blue accent lights, blue cotton candy and youngsters in “Back the Blue” shirts left no doubt that the city had the back of its wounded police officer.

Davis, critically injured in a shooting at America’s Car-Mart on Russellville Road last Thursday, has been improving day by day.

Support for Davis and his family came pouring in immediately following the incident and has not let up since.

Eric Cotton, head pitmaster and CEO of Cotton BBQ, said the wheels for Thursday’s fundraiser got rolling about three hours after the shooting.

A friend of his, a retired police detective, messaged him to ask if he could bring food to the officers at headquarters that evening while they decompressed and debriefed.

“We were able to bring some food down to them right away and at least help them on that front, to be able to have a meal that night knowing everything that had happened,” Cotton said.

That sparked the idea to widen his efforts to the entire community.

Cotton stopped by Cindi and Steve Garden’s Groovy Gus Donut Bus shop to loop them in on his plans.

“I was like, ‘shoot, we’re open on Thursday,’ and I looked over at Steve and he said ‘we’re going to make it happen,’ ” Cindi said. “We closed the shop and came here. I’m thrilled to see 13 vendors here, it’s an amazing community.”

The groovy crew made about 400 pounds of dough to prepare for the fundraiser. Cindi even came up with a “Back the Blue” donut to show their support.

She said once their cooking costs are covered, all proceeds will go directly to Davis.

“We are not a family that comes from law enforcement, but we’ll do anything to help our first responders,” she said.

An anonymous donor supplied a monstrous order of meat for Cotton and his team to toss onto the flames.

With 200 pork butts and 100 racks of ribs to prepare, it was the largest barbecue undertaking Cotton had been a part of.

“This is probably four times larger than my best day ever,” Cotton said.

He had to call in for backup, enlisting the services of Brent Cassady and Ron Wolf of Cassady BBQ and White Wolf Smokers, respectively.

The team set up shop around noon on Wednesday and worked throughout the night to tackle what Wolf estimated was 1,000 pounds of meat.

“It’s tough, it was a long day and night,” Wolf said. “But it’s always worth it for something like this.”

Sheriff Brett Hightower of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office said his department offered its services to BGPD to help cover calls following the shooting.

“Any time any one of us has a need, we always step in to assist with that,” he said.

Hightower said he’s been down a similar road as Davis, receiving a severe injury to his jaw and neck in a firefight during his service in Afghanistan.

“I’ve been through the process,” he said. “This type of support, in knowing that you’ve got a community to support you, that is behind you, that prays for you – those are powerful. I can tell you that in a significant injury, it makes an incredible impact on what your mindset is.”

While Davis couldn’t be present physically, Hightower said he was definitely there in spirit.

“Emotionally I think this will have a huge impact to strengthen him and help in his recovery efforts,” he said.

The Stuff the Bus Foundation donated $1,000 to Cotton BBQ Wednesday to ensure their cooking costs were met, allowing all funds raised through their offerings – over $20,000 just from pre-orders alone – to go directly to Davis and his family.

“We just couldn’t be more proud of this community, every time there’s a need we’re there for it,” Stuff the Bus founder Tony Rose said.

The final fundraiser amount will be given to Davis in addition to the donations from the Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police’s GoFundMe, which broke its goal of $50,000 on the morning of the event.

“We’re going to give that money directly to Matt as Matt needs it to support his recovery and to support his family,” said Shawn Helbig, national trustee for the FOP. “Obviously it’s very expensive to drive back and forth to visit with Matt, so these funds will be used to supplement his income to overcome these challenges he’s going to have as he recovers.”

The FOP also opened an account through Independence Bank where people can make direct donations to the recovering officer.

Helbig said the organization has set itself up as the “clearinghouse” for any fundraisers people want to have.

“Any donations are going to be funneled through the FOP, and the FOP has a 13-member executive board so no money can go anywhere without the majority’s approval,” Helbig said. “So you know that the donations you give to us are safe. They’re not going to be squandered, they’re not going to go to other places.”

BGPD Chief Michael Delaney said that Davis, an 18-year law enforcement veteran, is someone who believes in his community.

“One thing that hasn’t been shared is Matt Davis, even after all this, is his willingness to come back,” Delaney said. “One of the first things he asked his doctor was, ‘will I be able to return back to service.’ ”

Delaney said the recovery is going to be tough, “but if anybody can get through it, Officer Davis can.”