2007 barbecue festival biggest in Cape history

With names like "Pork Brothers of Different Mothers," "Piggin' & Grinnin'" and "Smokus Pokus," it's obvious that today's BBQ Fest at Arena Park will be full of flavor -- in personality, if not in cuisine.

This year's festival will be the biggest in the city's history, organizers say, with 52 teams huddled around the shady Arena park. On Friday, many of the contestants took refuge in air-conditioned campers as event organizers conducted inspections at each of the stations. Large fans blew the hot and dry air onto others who visited outdoors in lawn chairs. Meanwhile, big black smokers puffed like cauldrons, the smoke acting like a pleasant potion that made the heat endurable.

The 52 teams come from eight states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. The event is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society, drawing barbecuers from abroad.

Minor celebrities Lee and Bobbie McWright from American Barbecue Systems are among the teams seeking the grand prize. The ABS team won the U.S. Barbecue Championship in 2002 and the Great American title in 2005. The McWrights have made a career out of the food business, both executive chefs who appear regularly on television. They were featured on a Food Network show that included the renewal of their wedding vows. Lee McWright said the episode was shown 18 times on the network this year.

The McWrights started wafting toward the barbecuing lifestyle in the mid-1980s and have been improving their flavor ever since, moving more toward wood spices. He noted that wood is the world's oldest spice, predating salt by some 50,000 years.

The McWrights go to about 30 contests a year.

"It's all about being happy, having fun and not being too consumed with who's going to win," he said.

At least one of the local contestants agreed, although he indicated the competition was perhaps a bit more fierce.

Mark Eftink, of the four "Caney Misfits" (Caney being a small unincorporated town near Chaffee and Oran), says the people are great to talk to. But what about sharing tips?

"Huh-uh," he said. "It's cutthroat."

He said barbecuers learn by trial and error, not by stealing each other's technique.

"Nobody wants to lose here," he said. "You're not gonna spend all this money and spend all this time to come up here and get last place. But it's a great time and everybody has fun."

A $1,000 prize will go to the grand champion with $750 going to reserve grand champions in the chicken, pork ribs, pork and brisket categories.

For the first year, the Cape Jaycees are organizing the event. Casey Hertenstein, co-chairwoman of the BBQ Fest committee, said the Jaycees hope to earn more money for their Christmas Toybox program.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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