The View: BBQ Fest

If you are going to be in Memphis for Barbecue Fest, you can expect to see at least one, if not all, of these things:

The Mighty Mississippi

Since the Memphis in May festivities mostly happen right in Tom Lee Park, which runs along the banks of the Mississippi River, the views really can't be beat. It's especially amazing to see at sunset.

Dapper Dressers
That gentleman in the purple was not alone. A few feet ahead of him was a man dressed entirely in blue and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there were more. You can definitely expect to see some people dressed to the nines while others seem to have forgotten some of their clothes. Seriously, there is some of the best people watching at Barbecue Fest.

Downtown Memphis
Not only do you see the skyline of downtown, you see the skyline through a haze of smoke. The smoke? It's from the hundreds of smokers found throughout the festival. Needless to say, it smells pretty amazing.

Mud
There is one thing you can rely on during Memphis in May. It will rain. A lot. Luckily, the rain doesn't put a damper on the festivities. As a result, there is mud everywhere. So watch where you step!

Extreme Tents
It seriously amazes me how in depth some of these tents are. I don't even think they should be called tents. Some of the teams literally build structures. I guess that's one way to get out of the mud.

Recreational Activities
People really know how to have a good time while down on the river. While some play golf, others play giant Jenga, or go for a walk. There are also countless drinking games going on. It's one giant party.

Too Sauced

It happened. Memphis in May Barbecue Fest 2013 and it was awesome. We spent two days on the river hanging out with the Too Sauced to Pork team and had a blast. We met a ton of great people, ate our weight in barbecue, and simply enjoyed this amazing time in Memphis.

I want to start off by giving a HUGE thank you to the Too Sauced to Pork team for inviting us to join them this weekend. Without them, we would have had a completely different (and probably less fun) Barbecue Fest experience. So, thank you. We really had the best time.

Ok, let's talk for a minute about the tent. The Too Sauced to Pork tent was probably in the best location. It was right on the river with an amazing view. They also had it set up with a huge kitchen area, dance floor, bar, dining room, and an area for the buffet. Oh, there was also a table fulllll of trophies they have won. Prettttttty impressive.

 

You can't talk about Barbecue Fest without mentioning the food. Let's just say, we didn't leave hungry. We had barbecue chicken, pulled pork, potato salad, coleslaw, beans, bacon wrapped cheese stuffed jalapenos, among lots of other things I can't even remember. They even had a crawfish boil. Well done, Too Sauced to Pork! Jeremy has not been able to stop talking about the delicious food.. and that's really saying alot!


Again, a big thank you to Too Sauced to Pork!! Thanks for having us!!!


PS. There will be more Barbecue Fest pictures tomorrow!!


Linking up with Meg // Sami // Leeann

Barbecue Sauced

BBQ Fest is the biggest thing to happen in Memphis since Elvis left the building. For those of you who don't know, Memphis is the barbeque capital of the world! Every May there is giant food competition called BBQ Fest in which teams from all of the country (the world?) bring their best barbeque recipes and compete.

Tom Lee Park, which is right on the banks of the Mississippi River becomes tent city. Each team that competes sets up shop with temporary kitchens with ginormous smokers in tents. There are multi-story tents, themed tents, and then just plain simple tailgate-ish tents. All award winning teams proudly display their trophys and other recognition they might have received for their cooking. There are hundreds of teams! In order to get into a tent though, and actually eat some barbeque, you have to know somebody on a team, or follow the rules outlined in this article.

Lucky for me, I can proudly announce that this year I will be a member of an official Memphis in May World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest Team! (phew, that is a mouth full)

The team:

Too Sauced to Pork

(They definitely get some creativity points in my book for that name.)

 Now, I just want to point out a few things:

1) I don't actually eat barbecue!!! The only meat I eat is chicken (and that's a relatively new thing), so all this pork barbecue talk is sometimes lost on me. I can appreciate, however, appreciate it and at least I have my trusty sidekick (aka fiance, Jeremy) to do all the pork eating for me. I also appreciate a great coleslaw. 

2) I have never met anyone on this team. I have only ever exchanged emails! I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing how it all works from the inside. Last year I was just a visitor in a tent, and only briefly. This year I'll be spending more time at the competition so look for some follow up posts. 

3) You should all read this article right now. It was written by a member of my team and it is incredibly informative and helpful!

Can you tell I'm excited? I feel like this makes me a real Memphian. I'm sure I'll be instagraming and tweeting along the way, so feel free to follow along!

I also want to say thank you to the To Sauced to Pork team for letting me join them this year. Really looking forward to it!!

(Does this post sound familiar to you? Parts were taken from last year's post that I wrote about BBQ fest)