REAL TEST TODAY AT ANNUAL BBQ FEST

This is it!

Barbecue teams in the Cape Girardeau BBQ Fest will be cooking for real today.

Chefs warmed up by cooking hamburgers, pork steaks, beef kababs and fish at Arena Park Friday night, but it was only practice. The real competition gets under way this morning.

Teams that will be cooking in four categories will attend a 7:30 a.m. meeting, then head for the barbecue pits where they go about the business of preparing meat for judges who will show up about noon.

Teams must cook in four of the six categories -- hamburgers, beef kebabs, pork ribs, pork Boston butts, pork steaks and beef filet mignon, a new category this year -- to qualify for the grand-champion trophy.

The crowd was big and activities were plentiful during the first day of the two-day event.

A small group of people used one of the softball fields near the Arena Building and a group of youngsters participated in a pick-up football game.

Music was playing, and nearby, youngsters pedaled toy tractors, tugging a weighted cart in a kiddie tractor-pull contest.

But the big activity was among the 27 barbecue areas, where teams and their followings practiced for today's big event.

BBQ Fest officials estimated the crowd at more than 2,000.

Later in the evening, area farmers lined up for competition in the Super Farmer Contest. Farmers participated in driving steel fence posts, filling feeders with grain, stacking baled hay and other events.

A number of contests were held, including bean-bag tossing, the kiddie tractor pull contests, watermelon eating, rolling-pin throws and water balloon tossing.

Entries in the contest will be judged for flavor, appearance, aroma, tenderness and doneness, with judging to start at noon. The grand champion will be announced at 3 p.m.

Twenty six teams will try to unseat Cape Electric Supply as the grand champion.

Today's competition marks the fourth year for the BBQ Fest, sponsored by the Agri-Business Committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and a number of co-sponsors. Consolidated Grain won the initial contest in 1993, and Boatmen's Porkers emerged champion in 1994.

"Everybody is having fun," said Tom Schulte, chairman of the Agri-Business Committee, which is keeping tabs on the evening's activities.

The objective of the annual BBQ Fest is to promote agriculture and the beef and cattle industries, said Schulte.

Charlie Knote was a hit with the barbecue crowd Friday night with demonstrations on how to prepare "first-class" barbecue.

Part of his talk centered on wood smoking ribs on a gas grill.

"This is possible," said Knote. "Using baffling, you can have great wood-smoked barbecue with a gas grill."

Knote explained: "You place a tray of wood at one end of the grill and the meat at the other end. You then use baffles to direct the smoke toward the meat."

Knote is a familiar name to area outdoor chefs. He is author of a barbecue cookbook and writes a cooking column. Knote and his wife, Ruth, are owners of the Culinary Institute of Smoke-Cooking.

CAPE BBQ FEST

Today's schedule

7:30 a.m. -- BBQ teams meeting

10 a.m.-2 p.m. -- Beef and pork samples, sandwiches and beverages

Noon -- Hamburger judging

12:30 -- Beef kebabs judging

1 -- Pork ribs judging

1:30 -- Pork steaks judging

2 -- Boston butt judging

2:30 -- Beef filet mignon judging

3:30 -- Announcement of BBQ Fest winners