DOVER, VT—July 21, 2010

The 5^th Annual Taste of the Deerfield Valley showcases dozens of top restaurants in the area to give the public the opportunity to taste specialty items from each of them and the opportunity to vote for their favorite taste. This year Celebrate the Valley is very excited to announce major additions to the 5^th Annual Taste of the Deerfield Valley… Myron Mixon, three-time World BBQ Champion and TV star of TLC’s Pitmasters, will join the Taste of the Deerfield Valley.

On Friday evening, September 10^th, Myron will entertain and demonstrate his barbecue prowess at a special dinner hosted by The Hermitage Inn of West Dover, and Saturday, September 11^th, Myron will be at the Grand Summit Hotel ballroom demonstrating his barbecuing skills.  All attending will learn Myron’s barbecuing techniques and they will get to sample his cooking.

Also joining the Taste this year, Mr. Mixon will be joined by Chef Robert Barral, owner of Café Provence, Brandon, VT and former New England Culinary Institute executive chef.  Chef Robert will team up with the Twin Valley Schools’ Junior Iron Chefs for a special demonstration on Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon will feature “tastes” from over a dozen restaurants, live music, craft fair and kids activities.

The following day, Sunday, September 12, the Deerfield Valley Community Cares is organizing the Best Dam Walk —a great way to walk off any indulging at the Taste. There are several walks available. The one-way walk is the most appropriate for families and will begin at 10am. Each entering adult will be asked to have $50 worth of sponsors (five people at $10 each or any other combination) and each child under 12 will be asked to have $10 worth of sponsors. The walk will be held rain or shine.

The Taste has also teamed up with the Deerfield Valley Healthcare Volunteers to help revive the popular “Art on the Mountain” three-day art show at Mount Snow

Tickets for the Taste are $15 for adults, $5 for children age 7-12, and free for children 6 and under. Friday evening and Saturday morning’s cooking demonstration tickets are additional.

The 5^th Annual Taste of the Deerfield Valley is brought to you by Celebrate the Valley, Inc., and sponsored by the Town of Dover, g.housen, 92.7 WKVT, Outside Television and g. Housen.

A portion of the proceeds from the events will go to the Junior Iron Chef program and The Deerfield Valley Food Pantry will be on-hand accepting food donations.

For more information, please go to: www.celebratethevalley.com.

In Rowlett, Texas the Rowlett Exchange Club is sponsoring “QueFest” on July 2nd to the 4th at the Elgin B. Robertson Park (I-30 and Dalrock Rd).  Musical entertainment includes Jonny Lang, Joan Jett, Tracey Lawrence and Charlie Robinson.

Up in Lansing, Michigan we have “Barbeque on the Boulevard” on July 10th.

The “Famous Dave’s 6th Annual BBQ & Blues Festival” takes place on June 12th in Minneapolis, MN.

Way up in the far northeast the “Mainely Grillin’ & Chillin’ State BBQ Championship” is taking place at Eliot, Maine on August 7th and 8th

Check out BBQ-Festivals.com for listings of more than 102 bbq festivals and competitions from Maine to California.

Here is some info lifted from the FAQ page at MusicCityBBQFestival.com

Located on First Ave at Riverfront Park at the foot of world famous downtown Honkytonk Lower Broadway, the festival will be visited by an estimated crowd of over 25,000.  The festival is organized by a volunteer team of over 400 people who will donate over 10,000 community service hours to make sure we are able to give a portion of the proceeds to the Shriners Childrens Hospitals, the Monroe Carell Jr. Childrens Hosptial at Vanderbilt and the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge and Camp Horizon. 

The 2010 Music City BBQ Festival will kick off on Saturday August 21st with the return of the popular “Swine Ball”.  For those who remember this event, last held in 2005,  you will recall a fun filled evening of music and BBQ.  We’ll keep you posted on the venue and music lineup. 

On Friday and Saturday, August 27th and 28th, the festival will continue with over 100 BBQ cook teams will competing for cash and prizes in a Tennessee State Champion event sanctioned by the Memphis BBQ Network and the Kansas City BBQ Society.  Saturday will also find events at the Grand Ol’ Porker Arena including a “Peoples Choice Award”, where you can sample the teams fare, a Viking Cooking demonstration and a mini brew fest.  And don’t forget about our Kid Fun Zone. 

Did we mention the we are Music City.  And where else are you going to find the best music on Friday and Saturday nights than on the Grand Ol’ Porker Stage.  Saturday night will feature singer songwriter Lee Roy Parnell opening for our headliner Delbert McClenton.  Friday night’s exciting line up will be announced soon, so stay tuned.

If you are in the Nashville area be sure to check out the Music City BBQ Festival.

If you have a bbq festival or competition that you do not see listed be sure to send us your info so we can add it to our listing.  The 2010 barbecue competition and festival season is going to be a great one.

Best of all when you list your barbecue business on one of these sites there is no charge. Thats right…. it’s FREE to be listed.

If your barbecue business has a press release or some kind of news send it to us and we will post it on this blog.  Advertising opportunities are available. We are about to cross 60,000 unique visitors so far this year and our emailing list is growing daily.

We can get the get the word out about your bbq business.

OK …. enough self promotion here………..  take advantage of our websites and list your business……… thanks and have a great bbq day.

Barbecue Restaurants

• Sweet Bones Alabama in Birmingham – This is what John says… “They may be only a couple of years old but they have a great story, great Que, and the best ribs I ever had! John”
• Teresa writes to us from Mississippi about Squealers Hickory Smoked BBQ in Meridian with two locations.  (no website yet) – (2442 North Hills Street, Meridian, MS 39305)(601-693-0910) Picinic style location on front porch, mostly take-out and (832 Hwy 19N, Suite 540, Meridian, MS 39307)(601-483-2727) Dine-in location family atmosphere. BBQ & the Blues!
• John Hardy’s Bar-B-Q in Rochester, MN has been referred to us saying “we are missing an icon”.

Barbecue Competition Teams

• From Houston TX we hear about the RAM Cookers Cook Off Team with Louis “Big Lou” Melchor and Basil “Uncle B” Rojas.  Michelle says they have a website coming soon and we will update their listing with that link as soon as we get it.

Barbecue Festivals & Competitions

• There is a new barbecue festival in Franklin, NC this year. The 1st Annual Mountain High BBQ & Music Festival will be held on August 8-9, 2009.  $11,400 total purse and a KCBS sanctioned event.
• Martinez, CA (SF Bay Area) is the scene for the 3rd Annual King of the C0unty BBQ and Music Festival. This even will be held on June 20-21, 2009 at the Martinez Marina Waterfront Park.
• The Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival in Charlotte NC now has a website and the event will be held on Sept 11-12, 2009

Barbecue Sauce

• Donya Marie’s Beyond Chocolate BBQ Sauce – review coming

If you have a barbecue event or restaurant that is not listed at BBQ-Festivals.com please contact us with the information and website address and we will add it.

Do you like to tailgate? Do you like barbecue? Well then there is a website just for you called Pit Crew Barbeque and you guessed it……it all about how to bbq and tailgate at the same time.  From tools to sauces to rubs they have it all including track conditions at the major raceways.  This is definitely a site you will want to use when you set out to the races.  Mike Hedrick from the Pit Pirate BBQ Team in Virginia is the Pit Boss for Pit Crew Barbeqcue and is joined by Bill Guide Jr and Steve Bolek the co-crew chiefs. This trio brings a lot of tailgating, bbq and racing info to the table to make for some great times.  So before you head out to that next race be sure to stop in and check out Pit Crew Barbeque for some great tailgatin’ tips.

Speaking of heading out on a trip; We got an email last week from a couple who is using BBQ-Festivals.com as a guide for planning their barbecue summer trip. How cool is that? They are heading out of North Carolina in the June, July time frame to hit some great bbq events and probably do some serious barbecue eating as well.  I have asked them to take some photos and let us know how the trip goes……  if anyone else plans a bbq vacation and uses our website please let us know how it goes. Keep a diary and take lots of pics. We will even help you set up a blog so you can share your bbq trip experiences with everyone.

The 2009 Great American BBQ Tour is presented by Kansas City BBQ Society.This tour is a cross-country tour of some of the nation’s top BBQ and food festivals.

The tour schedule can be found at the link provided below, and it is also attached for your convenience.

http://kcbs.us/tour.php