We have managed to make all of these and I think this one was the best yet. The food was pretty awesome and I don't think we had a bad bite. Scott and Mrs O. seemed to agree. The weather was a bit steamy and the meat sweats we produced didn't help.
We got to the park about 45 minutes early and were towards the front of the VIP line. I think we were maybe 10 or 12 back from the front. They moved us around a couple of times, then they came down the line and checked IDs for the beer wristbands. About 30 minutes before opening we went into the chutes where they checked bags and issued the VIP wristbands.
By 2 pm there were quite a few VIPs waiting and the lines stretched out behind the chutes.
One of the joints, I believe it was Meat You Anywhere, came down the line with brisket samples while we waited. Nice!
Finally the magic hour arrived and we were off to the BBQ races. As always, the trick is to get all your food in the "magic hour" before the general admission hordes come streaming in. We had brought along our usual disposable beer box trays and quickly filled them with meaty goodness. We find those much easier to deal with than the big wooden trays some folks bring. They're also more fun to make!
The 16 joints were arranged in tents down Main Street and split into two groups of 8. We started out with the furthest group and worked our way back to the front. Several of the vendors seemed to not be ready for the opening and it took awhile before they had food out. Rookies, I guess. Pretty soon everybody was up and running and we retired to the VIP area to grab a beer and check out the first 8 joints.
It all went away pretty quickly and we were back in line to sample the other 8.
By about 2:40 we had hit all the joints and picked out a few favorites. We managed to hit those one last time before all the general admission folks made the lines long and slow. The only one I missed on the third trip was Black's. They seemed to always have the longest line. We heard Barrett didn't make the trip because his wife just had a baby. Congrats to them.
After that it was pretty much sit around and finish our beer, groan about how full we were, and take a few more photos. In other words, a complete success!
There were a lot of food highlights and plenty of great BBQ to eat. Four joints had pork ribs and Louie Mueller had their excellent beef ribs. Some of the more unusual items included smoked rabbit, yummy brisket empanadas (Q T Pies), jalapeno sausage sandwiched between donut halves, and there was even a grilled vegetarian offering.
This is a nice sized fest with plenty of shady spots to hang out in. The Trailer Park Olympiks included fun stuff like a bull riding machine, toilet seat toss, and armadillo races.
Once the general admission hordes came in the party was pretty much over for us. We skedaddled around 3:30 pm and headed home for a much needed meat coma nap.
I have several more photo sections below. 1 set of meat and crowd scenes and two of booths and food. As always, click on any photo for a larger view.
