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GIRARD —
GIRARD — Some of the top barbecue cooks in the nation will be at the Crawford County Fairgrounds today for the third annual Smokin’ Hot BBQ and Fireworks.
This is the third year for the event, which is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and organized by the Celebrate Girard! Event Committee.
This may be the first year that the event will be dry.
“The first two years we had to deal with rain, but there’s no rain in the forecast this year,” said Christy Vulgamore of Celebrate Girard!
A total of 27 teams, some from as far away as Illinois and Colorado, will be competing in the KCSB event.
“They came in Saturday and cooked all Saturday night,” said Julie Smith, Girard Area Chamber of Commerce director.
Judging starts at noon today, and is done by KCBS-certified judges who are sequestered during their tasting and deliberations.
Members of the public will also be able to taste the barbecue produced by the KCBS competitors event by paying $5 for a wrist band that entitles the wearer to as many as 20 samples. They then vote for their favorite to select the winner of the $500 People’s Choice award.
“The tasting starts at 5 p.m.,” Smith said. “When it’s gone, it’s gone, and it goes fast.”
Local barbecue cooks will also have a chance to demonstrate their skill this year as the Girard Chamber presents the T.J. Belcher State Farm Amateur BBQ.
“This is something that people have asked for over the years and State Farm was gracious to take that over and sponsor it,” Vulgamore said.
Smith said that 13 local teams registered to participate in this event. Competition will be in pork ribs and chicken.
“We’re so excited to add the amateur event to the established KCBS competition,” the chamber director said. “Their judging will start at 6 p.m. and everybody can watch. With the lineup of judges we have, it’s going to be a great time for the community.”
Celebrity judges will be Kendall Gammon, former Kansas City Chiefs long snapper who was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1992 NFL Draft after a four-year career at Pittsburg State University; Dan Smith, 1993 Girard High School graduate who was a professional baseball player from 1993 to 2005 and is currently senior vice president, WTPS Development, for Watco Companies; Tawyna Bach, co-anchor of KOAM TV’s Morning Show; Crawford County Deputy Sheriff Dan Peak; and Eddie Lomshek of KKOW Radio.
GIRARD — Some of the top barbecue cooks in the nation will be at the Crawford County Fairgrounds today for the third annual Smokin’ Hot BBQ and Fireworks.
This is the third year for the event, which is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and organized by the Celebrate Girard! Event Committee.
This may be the first year that the event will be dry.
“The first two years we had to deal with rain, but there’s no rain in the forecast this year,” said Christy Vulgamore of Celebrate Girard!
A total of 27 teams, some from as far away as Illinois and Colorado, will be competing in the KCSB event.
“They came in Saturday and cooked all Saturday night,” said Julie Smith, Girard Area Chamber of Commerce director.
Judging starts at noon today, and is done by KCBS-certified judges who are sequestered during their tasting and deliberations.
Members of the public will also be able to taste the barbecue produced by the KCBS competitors event by paying $5 for a wrist band that entitles the wearer to as many as 20 samples. They then vote for their favorite to select the winner of the $500 People’s Choice award.
“The tasting starts at 5 p.m.,” Smith said. “When it’s gone, it’s gone, and it goes fast.”
Local barbecue cooks will also have a chance to demonstrate their skill this year as the Girard Chamber presents the T.J. Belcher State Farm Amateur BBQ.
“This is something that people have asked for over the years and State Farm was gracious to take that over and sponsor it,” Vulgamore said.
Smith said that 13 local teams registered to participate in this event. Competition will be in pork ribs and chicken.
“We’re so excited to add the amateur event to the established KCBS competition,” the chamber director said. “Their judging will start at 6 p.m. and everybody can watch. With the lineup of judges we have, it’s going to be a great time for the community.”
Celebrity judges will be Kendall Gammon, former Kansas City Chiefs long snapper who was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1992 NFL Draft after a four-year career at Pittsburg State University; Dan Smith, 1993 Girard High School graduate who was a professional baseball player from 1993 to 2005 and is currently senior vice president, WTPS Development, for Watco Companies; Tawyna Bach, co-anchor of KOAM TV’s Morning Show; Crawford County Deputy Sheriff Dan Peak; and Eddie Lomshek of KKOW Radio.
There will be plenty of other things going on at the fairgrounds besides barbecue. A vendors area with food and craft booths will open at noon, and there will be inflatables for the children from noon to 9 p.m. The beer garden, sponsored by the Crawford County Fair Board, will open at 4 p.m.
“The Wutke watermelon feed will be held at 6 p.m., and the band Clean Slate will play from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.,” Smith said.
A new event this year will be a motorcycle poker run, with registration from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Diskin’s Auto and Towing on the north side of the Girard Square. Registration fee will be $10 per poker hand. Run time will be from noon to 4 p.m., with stops at Erie, Moran, Fort Scott, Pittsburg and the fairgrounds. Proceeds will go to the Melisa Harley Scholarship Fund for Girard USD 248.
Fireworks will start at 9:30 p.m., and this is a big change in date.
“For 20-some years we had the fireworks on July 3,” Vulgamore said. “This year they’re on July 1. If you come July 3 looking for fireworks, they were shot off July 1.”
The reason for the change, Smith said, was because organizers wanted to keep the successful KCBS event.
“To do that, we needed to have this on a weekend,” she said. “You’re not going to get people taking time off from work to drive in from Illinois during the week.”
Smith added that having the fireworks on July 1 will allow area residents to also attend other area Fourth of July activities, including Crawford State Park fireworks at dark on Monday, the Hepler Ruritan Rodeo at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and Pittsburg’s fireworks show Wednesday in Lincoln Park.
Smith and Vulgamore both said they did not anticipate that the public will have any trouble getting to the fairgrounds because of the closing of Highway 47.
“Most area people know the back roads,” Vulgamore said. “For the benefit of those who don’t, we worked with Budweister to get good signs made and we’ve got them up.”
