BBQ Festival!

[southernlady]

We have a local BBQ Festival coming up here in our sleepy little town.
Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival

@brooklyngirl it's coming up!!!

 

[brooklyngirl]

OMG! Liz, I totally spazzed out and thought it was MAY 13-14 and that we missed it while we were in CA, my husband was so bummed! He's gonna be stoked now, thanks for the reminder/correction

 

[southernlady]

OMG! Liz, I totally spazzed out and thought it was MAY 13-14 and that we missed it while we were in CA, my husband was so bummed! He's gonna be stoked now, thanks for the reminder/correction

What day are you gonna try to make it? I'm looking at the opening hours on the 13th while it's still relatively cool! AND FREE to get in.

 

[brooklyngirl]

We'll either have to go Friday night after the hubby gets off from work or Saturday early, since we're going to see his family in NC that day. I'll ask him and maybe we can all meet up

 

[Elizabeth N.]

YUM!

 

[Terri]

That will be great if you all are able to get together!

 

[southernlady]

OMG -- My 3 kids and I will be there when the doors open at 10am! We have to be back home by 4 -- so that's plenty of time for protein consumption Thanks for letting us know, Liz! Want to meet up?

YES!!!

@brooklyngirl maybe you could come up Friday morning without hubby to "scope out the place" for him! LOL

We can do Sat but not until mid to late afternoon. We have a commitment in Asheville that morning.

 

[southernlady]

@Hala have you seen this thread yet?

 

[southernlady]

@4KidsAndaDog and @brooklyngirl, I just remembered that Fri the 13th is the day I have to drive down to Pendleton, SC to meet the guy who oversees the family plot. So I will be after lunch time before I get back to Tryon.

I need to figure out travel time back. My appt there is at 10AM and should only take 15-30 mins.

AAARRGGG!!!

 

[brooklyngirl]

Ok, let me see what I can work out with the car and I'll let you both know

 

[JackieOnLine]

what fun for all of you - post photos of the meet up!

 

[southernlady]

AAArrrrggg! Turns out I can't meet up on Friday My Friday has been overwhelmed -- its my last day home before leaving for a trip and I ran out of days...I'm sorry, guys! Maybe we can all meet up in July, tho? My hubs is an excellent BBQ pitmaster --- how's about any of y'all who want to come over here for a BBQ ??

Don't you HATE it when life interferes with FUN????

That sounds like an idea...just need to fit it around our grand tour of the US.

 

[brooklyngirl]

That's a bummer, but I like the sound of a BBQ! (Notice that I'm learning to be a southern girl and knowing the difference between a BBQ and a cookout )

 

[southernlady]

Interesting article in our local paper:
http://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2014/06/16/mtn-view-bbq-festival-to-be-featured-on-food-network/

Mtn View BBQ, festival to be featured on Food Network

Published 10:00pm Monday, June 16, 2014

No one could have ever imagined when the Blue Ridge Barbecue and Music Festival started in 1994 that it would one day gain national attention on a major television network.

But the last couple of festivals have brought just that.

During this year’s festival, local barbecue restaurant owner Shane Blackwell, of Mountain View BBQ & Deli, along with the Blue Ridge Barbecue festival will be featured on a new television show on the Food Network channel.

Blackwell said he was shocked when the Food Network called him.

Blackwell told the Food Network he was a local boy and the Blue Ridge Barbecue festival was the only festival he competes at because he loves it and what it brings to the community.

“The barbecue festival being chosen just shows what a special festival we have here,” Blackwell said.

Blackwell filmed with Food Network for three days, including at his Columbus restaurant on Thursday and at the festival on Friday and Saturday at Harmon Field in Tryon.

He was able to get to know actor and comedian Anthony Anderson, who can be seen lately as a guest judge on the Food Network’s Iron Chef and has had many roles in both television shows and movies.

Blackwell said the show producers were great and they all raved about the Polk County area.

Blackwell said the barbecue festival doesn’t just help the chamber of commerce, but helps many local businesses, particularly convenience stores and hotels from Spartanburg, S.C. to Hendersonville.

And bringing that many people to Tryon also brings the potential for people to visit or relocate here later, he said.

“They loved this place,” Blackwell said of the Food Network team. “And they were blown away by the volunteers.

“(Food Network producers) said this was the best and the biggest festival yet and they talked about the love from the whole festival, especially the willingness of people to work with them.”

And Blackwell said Anderson was a whole other story with how he interacted with people at the festival and his team. And Anderson knows his barbecue, according to Blackwell.

“(Anderson) came to our booth and just acted like he was one of us,” Blackwell said. “He took pictures with everybody and he was on the line cutting up with my staff, yelling, ‘Hey, y’all need to come get some of this Mountain View Barbecue.’ He fit in like he’d been here his whole life.”

Blackwell was one of three teams filmed at the Blue Ridge Barbecue festival this year for the new show.

Blackwell said filming with Food Network showed him more this year how lucky the community is to have an event like the Blue Ridge Barbecue and Music Festival.

“The festival is talked about nationwide,” Blackwell said, “and it’s one of the smallest counties in North Carolina putting on one of the biggest events in the country.”

This year’s festival was Blackwell’s sixth competing and fourth or fifth both competing and being a vendor.

Blackwell said people don’t realize the work that goes into the festival and said he couldn’t do it without many stepping in to help him, including his wife, Holly, and countless friends.

“I couldn’t have pulled this weekend off without the help,” Blackwell said.

And he said it still amazes him how the barbecue steering committee and volunteers pull together to put on the festival every year.

“If we didn’t have a lot of special people in this community it wouldn’t happen,” he said. “And when you can attract national attention, that is amazing.”

The new show on the Food Network channel will be called Food Fest Nation and follows festivals throughout the country. Check the Food Network website for updates on when the show will air.

“It’s not going to just be about me,” Blackwell said,” it’s going to be about the whole community and the festival. It’s going to be really neat.

“It was an awesome experience to do that. I never thought you’d see little ole Mountain View BBQ on the Food Network.”

Btw, the Tryon Daily Bulletin is known as "the World's Smallest Daily Newspaper"

 

[brooklyngirl]

How cool is that?!? We never made it after getting all ready Saturday morning and then I checked to see if there was anything on the website about pets and, of course, no pets allowed. Since we were going there on the way to spend the day near Charlotte with hubby's family we couldn't leave the pup alone Any idea why it didn't run all weekend? Is it the "Sunday being God's day" thing?