Sounds like the big BBQ fest was a BOMB…..

Here’s a few quick quotes, I will have more stories and pictures up later!

Not sure what to say about the BBQ Fest–I think we went in with the wrong idea. We all thought we could sample a lot of different BBQ. So when we went in–we were told we had to pay tickets–no money allowed. That would have been ok, but we went in early in the day and weren’t ready to eat a lot. The tickets were sold in $10.00 lots. So we could spend $10.00, $20.00. $30.00 and so on, but not any other amount. For a lot of what we were interested in, it was possible to buy the food, but not a drink within the $10.00.

But worse than that you had to choose which place to go to. We ate at two places. One was great—everything was good, but the other ‘prize winning place’ we actually left food–it was OK food, not great. The portions were large enough, but we were interested in trying several kinds.

Next year–if it done the same way–we will eat at one of the local places we know.

Ouch!

I can’t believe I spent $5 on a Diet Coke!?!

Double Ouch!

I dont know if you have heard, but the rib fest was lousy. They had greeters at the gate to search purses, strollers and things to make sure no one brought any contraband in…Tammy was busted for having a half bottle of water. Cheryls son David was busted with a Mountain dew.

There was a tent just inside the gate that had Angus Pride meats to sample for free-they were the best meat in the place. Then was a sign-up table for door prizes. Looking closely at the small print, it was actually a sign up for vacation packages (3 days free if you attend a meeting about time share). So sorry, passed that one up.

Then there were tickets to purchase. Seven tickets for $10. No one took cash, just tickets. Hot dog or corn on the cob, 3 tickets, and up to 20 tickets for a slab of ribs. Oh, and ATM machines right next to the ticket place.

There were about 7 different companies that had actually barbeque tents. Famous Daves was one. Each tent had banners up all over that told where they won the last competition (like Best Sauce 2007). There were no free samples. While some had small samplers to try, they were like 6 tickets. It would cost a fortune to try all seven kinds. Mom and I fianlly settled on the one that claimed it was this years best sauce. We got 4 ribs, a chicken breast, cole slaw, beans and a roll for 12 tickets. Not enough tickets left to even get a drink of something! The ribs were fatty, the coleslaw was probably from Sams club and the beans were Van Camps from the can. The roll was dry and cheap. Jason and Tammy got a sandwich and 2 ribs for 6 tickets…once again not enough to get a drink. We had three tickets left, not enough for a drink, so Tams and Jason got me an ear of roasted corn…OK, but not great like Iowa corn.

Blessings on the Stars Hockey team…free snow cones or we would have been parched.

I heard later the music was good, but no one was drinking…too costly.

The one and only statement I have heard on it was that it was a poor value for the money, and they wont return next year.

Oh, they had a guy guessing your age for a prize, a throw the ping pong ball in floating ashtrays for a prize, some lemonade and beer stands, some treats like funnel cakes and the custom chopper made by Orange county choppers for the state of Iowa…it runs on e85 fuel.

All in all, big waste of time…bigger waste of money.