19TH JACK DANIEL'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BARBECUE

Jack Daniel's BBQ is a must see event on our calendar each year. This event goes back to the days of Jack Daniel who hosted barbecues for friends, associates and family. The tradition has passed down through the years and began as The World Championship Invitational Barbecue hosted by Jack Daniel's Distillery and the city of Lynchburg in 1988. The event is looked on as the premier barbecue event in the world.
Smoke was rising out of the hollow as we made our way through miles of bumper to bumper traffic to reach the event located around the town square and into the city park. Things were buzzing as we walked into a mass of people on the square with booths of food, crafts and music. Over 40,ooo hungry people were in attendance and you couldn't walk without running into someone. All this was well and good but the real fun was on down in the park where the smoke was cascading from the BBQ teams cookers.
Teams are invited by winning a championship in some State BBQ event. 60 teams from all over the USA were invited to compete for prize money and bragging rights. Teams with funny names like; Carcass Cookers, Doctor Porkenstein FireHouse BBQ. were cooking oink, cackel and moo. That's Southern for pig, chicken and beef the three different meat events a team can compete . The best part about the BBQ is teams must give samples of their cooked meats to the public. Since Jack Daniels supplies all the meat for the teams this is a given, many thanks Jack!!!! After the teams take their meats to be judged it sample time. Long lines form and teams give their samples away. People are rushing to get in those lines serving. Good manners by the public are viewed and thanks go out to those serving the samples as you take them. Greasy mouths and chins are seen and people are in a jolly mood. Who wouldn't be with all that GOOD BBQ? Yeah, I sure got my share of those delicious meats, my wife was going through the lines and after a while she began giving me what she didn't want. I didn't buy any BBQ from those selling it who weren't competing but before we went home I had to buy a BBQ plate for my wife.
Teams from all over the world made the trip to compete in the International BBQ contest. Teams from Australia, Belgium, Canada, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Norway, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Estonia were crowd favorites in their native attire. These guys and gals cooked some GREAT BBQ!
The crowd favorite of everyone was the Mate from Australia who played his native music on those long horns seened in the photo above. Kids and people got to play other music items he had and photos were being snapped by everyone. He was quite a show and a diplomat too. I heard him say, " These Tennessee Women are the prettiest in the world." That might be a matter of opinion