Hey it’s that time of year again, the time of year when we all look forward to barbecue season. The wife and I are barbecue judges and the first event that we usually attend is the Pork in the Park Barbecue Festival in Salisbury Maryland. This is the seventh year for this event. The event will be held on April 16-18, 2010.

For those not familiar with Salisbury it is on Maryland’s eastern shore.  It’s a beautiful area and well worth the visit. Last years event was great with a huge turnout including 84 barbecue teams, vendor barbecue, motorcycle clubs, craft vendors, and local community organizations. This year they think they will have over 100 barbecue teams.

What I remember about last year’s event is that they had lots of great bands. The music was awesome. This year they anticipate having a battle of the bands. The local radio station 96 Rock will referee the battle.

This is a family-friendly event so there are many activities for the kids. The big event is the barbecue competition. The winner of this event add to his Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) standing and (if a Marylander) will be in the running for the state championship. The barbecue competition is primarily for the professionals but there is a backyard barbecue competition that anyone can enter.

What I liked the most about this event is that it is well organized. So many times when you go to these festivals they seem to be chaotic from a barbecue judging perspective. This is not the case at Pork in the Park. Sandy Fulton is the organizer and she puts on a great event. This event keeps to the schedule, is well resourced, and just plain fun (they have great T-shirts, too).

So if you’re in the area at this time of year put this party on your calendar. It’s a great event!

Regards,

Tony

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If you would like to visit the originating website for this post click this link: Backyard Smoker Barbeque Blog - A Blog for People Who Love the Flavor of Smoked Barbeque and the Fun of the Barbeque Community.

We traveled to the Memphis in May barbecue festival last spring.  It was the first time to this event and the first time in the city of Memphis.   Our goal was to have a good time, enjoy some top notch barbeque and to check Memphis out.  I can say, without a doubt, that all the goals were met.

Memphis has the reputation of being the epicenter of barbeque and the reputation is well deserved.  There were more “Q” restaurants and joints than I’ve ever seen in one spot.  If you haven’t been and you’re a fan of barbeque then you have to put it on your “bucket” list.



It is also one hot town for music.  We went to BB King’s club on Beale street and the joint was jumpin.   We hit a number of other spots to include Graceland (to pay homage).  There were a number of other spots we put on our list to hit on the next visit.

But back to barbeque and the Memphis in May festival.  We learned that we showed up on the wrong day to sample the barbeque from the competition teams (to be corrected next year).   The next day we observed the on site judging and the turn in’s for the blind tasting.

The staging area booths set up by each team were quite original and colorful but I have to say that the real show were the presentations done by the designated pitch person from each team.   We learned that the winners had to be real showmen in addtition to producing the best of the best in each judged barbeque category.  It was a real education.

We’re going to keep making the rounds to these events because we get to appreciate what a passion real smoked barbeque is to so many people.  The bottomline, it was fun.

Thanks,

TC

If you would like to visit the originating website for this post click this link: Backyard Smoker Barbeque Blog - A Blog for People Who Love the Flavor of Smoked Barbeque and the Fun of the Barbeque Community.