New England area 2012 festivals

Hi friends, man I am looking forward to spring and summer!
I was looking around online for 2011 BBQ festivals and competitions in the New England/North East area, sounds like a good way to spend some time over the summer! I found a few listings I have noted below, if you guys and girls know of any other events worth checking out please feel free to share the info!

Lexington BBQ battle, 4/16 & 4/17
Norwich BBQ festival, 5/7
Cape Cod BBQ festival, 6/11 & 6/12
Harpoon Beer & BBQ festival, 7/23 & 7/24
Harvard Fall/BBQ festival, 9/17 & 9/18

Did I mention I can’t wait for this snow to melt? Cheers – Jeff

Hi Smoke Stack. My son is a Junior at URI and seems to be having a good learning experience there. Any way, there is a KCBS contest July 22-24 in Fryeburg, Maine. Friday night is a lobster dinner for the competitors Elliot, Maine has a contest August. 12 & 13. There is an EggFest in Brentwood, NH on June 25. We will be competing at the one in Lexington and Harvard. Wouldn't mind judging a couple too! Spring can't come soon enough!

Oh yeah, forgot. There in another contest in Norwalk CT Sept 9 - 11

Sadly it seems that the Rock n Ribfest in Merimack, NH is no longer a contest. Just music and food for the masses.

A couple more...

Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party - City Hall Plaza Boston - 06/24, 06/25 & 06/26
Barbeque Pit at the Norwalk Oyster Festival - Norwalk, CT - 09/09, 09/10 & 09/11

Jim

Any of you new englanders going to be competing? if so would anyone mind letting me hang out and observe the competition process for the weekend? Never been to one let alone competed in one and from what i've read they say you should try to see the game from insiide the ropes, observing helping or whatever before attempting to compete. Let me know your thoughts and if anyone is willing to take me on. thanks alot......al

Awesome info guys, thanks for posting. Let’s keep in touch and keep this thread up to date, maybe we can make some plans to meet up if we plan to attend the same events.

By the way, you all are in MA, ever been to Soulfire in Allston? Wyeth is a good friend, and a damn good smoke guy! Go say hi and have some Q

just checked out soulfire website, looks good. i'll pay wyeth a visit. thanks

Just got word this weekend that the Rock n Ribfest in Merrimack NH June 17-19th is A KCBS competition. My earlier info was erroneous. They were simply trying to change the date and so could not post it as a contest. This is a good one and takes place on the grounds on the AB brewery. Budweiser is not my beer of choice, but it sure does smell good there!

Oh, cool, good news. Sounds like I should try my best to get to NH for this event. Thanks for the update

My team is R2-BQ, I will be competing at Norwich in May and Cape Cod in June. Stop by and say hi.

I plan to hit up both the Norwich and Cape fests, I’ll stop by. Looking forward to it!!!
-Jeff

So the Lexington BBQ battle was this past weekend, and although I am glad we went, it was a little disappointing. The best thing I had was the warm apple crisp with ice cream! And it was a cold and windy day with no sunshine! Haha

There was only two teams selling Q that I could see, I had a pulled pork Sammie from Lester’s which was good, nothing outstanding though. A bit too wet as the bun was mush by the time I sat down to eat it.

Next I decided to try some burnt ends from Blue Ribbon BBQ. I don’t know if serving Q at a festival compromises the food at all, but these burnt ends did not have a single speck of bark on them. It was good chopped brisket, but you could clearly tell they just chopped a full brisket and tossed it in sauce before serving. They skipped that last step of putting the chopped meat back on the smoker for a little while longer to get that “burnt endsâ€

Hey Smoke Stack, late post here. I was a table captain at Lexington because the weather report kept us from competing. Cold, wind and rain. This is supposed to be fun!

Also there is a contest at Old Orchard Beach, June24-25. Kind of strange as it is a Friday -Saturday event. I will be there competing with a team with Meat in it's name. Look for the Good One Rodeo Smoker and you will find us. We will have plenty of cold beer on hand.

hey man, i'll try my best to get up there and see you guys!

That was a COLD day out there in Lexington!

There is a comp scheduled for June 24 -25 in Old Orchard Beach. It is a first year comp and they are thinking of canceling it as only 8 teams have signed up. They were hoping for 15. there is a total payout of $7,500 so the incentive is there for a few more folks to step up. Here is a link to the site.

http://smokinbbqmaine.com/

Please join in if schedule allows!

Just an update here. The Harvard Fall Festival in Harvard, MA is but a month away. September 16 - 18th. I will be there with a couple teammates as Meat And Three. Joining us will be the new cooker, a GoodOne Rodeo. It has done me proud over the last couple months and expect the good things to continue at this comp. Stop into the site for a visit and a cold brew if you can, I'll be happy to say hi! Just not at crunch time OK?!