CAPE BBQ FEST SLATED FOR AUG. 22-23

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce is looking for backyard gourmets to compete in the fifth annual Cape BBQ Fest Aug. 22 and 23 at Arena Park.

The Chamber's agribusiness committee will sponsor the barbecue competition to promote the area's beef and pork industries. During the two-day event, teams of two or more people will compete in six different grilled meat categories, hamburger, beef filet mignon, beef kabab, pork steaks, pork ribs and pork Boston butts.

A panel of judges will score the meats in the areas of appearance; taste, aftertaste and doneness; and tenderness, juiciness and texture. They will look for lean meat with an emphasis on low fat.

Linda Minner, special projects director for the chamber of commerce, said about 4,000 people attended the BBQ Fest last year, and attendance has grown every year.

The cookoff allows the serious barbecuer to show his skills grilling meat, she said. The blind competition keeps judges impartial, and a showmanship award gives teams an opportunity to keep the competition fun for participants and viewers.

Besides competition in the meat categories and a showmanship award, a new Bragging Rights award has been added this year. When two or more entrants of teams with similar professions compete in a category, scores of each team are tallied. The team with the most points wins the bragging rights plaque for that industry type.

Twenty-eight teams have committed for the competition, and more are expected to enter before Friday's deadline, she said. Teams will be travelling from as far away as Piggott, Ark., for the event.

"When we first started this five years ago, I think we had 13 teams," Minner said. "It's just getting bigger and better every year. We welcome new teams to compete, because they help make it fun."

Besides the barbecue competition, children and adults can enjoy an array of games Aug. 22. Children can compete in watermelon eating, kiddie tractor pulls, water balloon tosses and rolling pin throws, and adults can strut their stuff during an urban cowboy contest.

"The urban cowboy contest is always a lot of fun," Minner said. "The participants drive a steel post, move and stack bales of straw, toss a feed bucket and drive a garden tractor through a maze, and everything's timed."

Minner said many sponsors use the Friday night activities as a company barbecue/picnic for employees and friends. The competition doesn't provide for free samples to the public, she said, but people can sample beef and pork provided by the SEMO Cattleman's Association and the Southeast Missouri Pork Producers Association. In addition, sandwiches and drinks will be sold throughout the event.

Proceeds from the BBQ Fest are used for agribusiness scholarships.