As the sun rose over Flat Point Farm in West Tisbury on Sunday, so did the smell of a pork dinner. It was an odd time of day for it. Amid the quiet of the dawn, the bees visiting the wildflowers and the birds flying about a vacant field, there was the sound of sizzling and a small cloud of smoke coming from a large black steel box, hot to the touch, with a thermometer dial on the door reading 325 degrees. A pig was roasting.

The chef, Dwight Kaeka, 40, was up early, fidgeting with the food preparation, adjusting the propane flame, checking temperatures. He and his wife, Beth, were tending to a meal with a tradition that goes back generations, to another island, to his family’s roots in Hawaii. The couple had spent the quiet evening together in a tent. The cooking began just after midnight. Hours later, there would be a big feed at the annual West Tisbury volunteer firemen’s picnic. It takes a long time to roast a pig.

Pig roasting is enjoying a revival on the Vineyard. One of the most popular foods at this year’s ag fair was the roasted pork sandwiches at Everett Whiting and Tim Laursen’s Local Smoke; the best friends raised 18 pigs on-Island just for their booth and began building their smoker in June for the August event.

Mr. Kaeka may not be the originator of pig roasts on the Vineyard, or the only Island roaster, but he certainly is a coconspirator in this roasting renaissance. This year he has done eight pig roasts, and he could be doing another before the year is up. The Kaekas also have done roasts for events around their two kids, Marissa, now 21, and D.J., now 18.

Mr. Kaeka is an Island carpenter, a contractor. He has many interests, which include frisbee golf, and other ways to appreciate the outdoors. His brothers, Danny, Daryl, Dennis, and their sister, Hannah, think similarly. The colorful sign marking Kaeka Lane, on the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road, is a reminder to their friends of the energy the Kaeka family brings to the Vineyard community.

Dwight’s pig roast is the centerpiece of the West Tisbury firefighters when they gather for their end-of-summer picnic.

“It is a hobby,” Mr. Kaeka said, wearing a white clean apron and standing next to the product of a long night of work. “I do it for family and friends. I’ve done a wedding,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of parties.” Every once in a while the idea floats around that a man could make a living doing this, but Mr. Kaeka shifts his thinking back to the joy of cooking.

Though Mr. Kaeka grew up on the Vineyard, he knows the stories and traditions of his family’s homeland, the Sandwich Islands. A Hawaiian pig roast usually takes place in a pit in the sand referred to as an Imu. It is a meal associated with Christmas, family reunions and weddings. The garnishes are usually circular slices of pineapple and cherry. There are dry rubs and sauces.

Here on the Vineyard, he roasts in a more modern barbecue roaster, a few feet off the ground. On this day, it is near the edge of the Tisbury Great Pond.

A good family-cooked meal is hard to keep secret. It is especially hard to keep it a secret among firemen. Especially when the parties are open-ended, word gets around quick. “We Kaekas, when ever we do anything, we usually do it by jumping in with both feet,” Mr. Kaeka said. Good cooking is only part of their story.

Mrs. Kaeka supports her husband’s roasting. “I support him. I usually clean up after him,” Mrs. Kaeka said. Though she said she usually doesn’t eat any pig when it comes off the fire, she liked it on Sunday. It is their son D.J. who really has been the number two cook when it comes to this specialized barbecue.

Sunday’s roast of the 100-pound pig started days earlier. Preparation can take up to 20 hours.

Mr. Kaeka said a pig is prepared, in some respects, as a turkey is prepared for a Thanksgiving dinner. He puts together a special stuffing that goes in the cavity. “People like the stuffing a lot,” Mr. Kaeka said, so a lot of good ingredients go into the stuffing.

The stuffing helps in another way. Without stuffing, some parts of the pig will cook more quickly than the rest; stuffing helps to even the cooking time. His philosophy about how big a pig to prepare is based on a simple formula. “Figure one pound per person,” he said. Though no one really eats a pound, it is a good measure to establish how big the pig should be.

Prior to cooking, Mr. Kaeka prepares what is called a rub. It is the dry version of a marinade. Mr. Kaeka said he has a number of ingredients that will help give flavor to the meat: brown sugar, cayenne pepper, chili powder and some other long-held-close-to-the-vest family ingredients.

Once in the roaster, Mr. Kaeka does plenty of basting.

Cooking depends on the size of animal. “This took 10 hours to cook,” Mr. Kaeka said. “I remember cooking a 250-pounder for Brian Athearn. It took 14 to 15 hours to cook.” He donated the Island-raised pig.

At the firemen’s picnic there is a line up of people seeking to try the Kaeka family pork. Mr. Kaeka answers questions and helps explain what goes into his cooking. “This is the part I like,” he said. “Notice that people like to socialize, and gather around the pig to talk.”

Around the corner, there is the more traditional barbecue with burgers sizzling and hot dogs rolling amid the fire. There is linguica. And a table loaded with salads and plenty of applesauce.

“Dwight is a great fireman,” said Manuel Estrella 3rd, town fire chief.

Mr. Estrella said the roast has been a part of the picnic for years and it is one of the many favorites of the gathering. “Nowadays, it is hard to find people who have the time to volunteer,” said Mr. Estrella. “It is not enough to just make a living. Times are hard. So, it is harder finding people who have the time.”

But for his firefighting colleagues, Chef Kaeka on Sunday gave another meaning to the term “overnight success,” and one that everyone could enjoy.