Rib, music fest sizzles over weekend
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Racks of finger-licking ribs. Baskets of mouth-watering brisket. Piles of sweet and tangy pulled pork.
Welcome to vegetarian hell, otherwise known as the first Butler Rib & Music Fest.
“This is the place to be if you're a meat eater,” said Kelly Eckman of South Buffalo Township, who came with his wife, Mary Kay, on Saturday to attend the three-day festival at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Connoquenessing Township.
“It's been a pretty good turnout,” event coordinator Sal Richetti of Pittsburgh said, estimating the event brought between 4,000 to 5,000 people. The Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau also was a sponsor.
While maestros of meat were tending to their smokers and serving up their barbecue, there was plenty else to do on the farm show grounds.
Numerous vendors hawked home improvement wares, security systems and carnival-style food to festival visitors.
Live music from an assortment of tribute bands was also part of the ambience.
But the star attractions this weekend were the three nationally known barbecue joints competing for trophies awarded Saturday for best ribs and best sauce.
There also was a people's choice trophy up for grabs.
And judging by the long lines at each of the barbecue tents, it was a tough choice.
Competing were Carolina Rib King from South Carolina, Cowboys Barbecue & Rib Co. of Texas and Johnson's Bar-B-Que of Virginia.
Johnson's Bar-B-Que won for best ribs, Cowboys won for best sauce and Carolina Rib King took the people's choice trophy.The pit masters, cooks and servers travel the country going to similar competitive rib fests. They're kind of like professional porkers.Dan Johnson is a rock star on the pro barbecue circuit. For 34 years, he's been running Johnson's Bar-B-Que in Chesapeake, Va.“I don't own it,” he says, “It owns me.”He's a human quip machine, and with his larger-than-life personality, the BBQ community could not have a better ambassador.But he also knows what makes good 'cue — from the choice of meat to the wood to the sauce.“They say wine gives you wisdom, beer gives you strength. My barbecue gives you pleasure,” he says.Real barbecue means cooking the meat “low and slow” on a fire with only one fuel source. “No wood, no good,” says Johnson.He uses hickory, mainly, but “for sweetness,” he mixes in cherry wood.“My briskets take 14 hours. My pork butts take 14 hours,” he notes. But it's worth the wait.“I kiss it with smoke and hug it with sauce,” he adds.And how tender is it? “You can take your teeth out to eat it.”Inside the makeshift kitchen at the Cowboys Barbecue & Rib Co. tent Saturday afternoon, the orders kept coming. Sandwiches came in three sizes: Cowboy, Big-Un and Gut-buster.
There were also four different platters that all offered two sides and corn bread. The Trail Drive had the choice of one meat, the Alamo Combo, two meats, the Border Platter, three meats and the Tex-N, five meats.Ribs could be ordered at three or four bones, a half slab (six bones) or a full slab (12 bones).Sides included baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, mac and cheese and collard greens.Guy Wilkinson, who is the right-hand man for the Cowboys' pit master, was a blur: chopping, slicing and carving the meat, ladling the sauce and scooping up the sides to fill each order.“But it's not the meat or the sauce, man,” he said. “What makes good barbecue is the love that we put into. It's the cook.”And the best BBQ is Texas BBQ, he boasts.“We invented barbecue,” Wilkinson insists. “Besides, it's the land of the free and the home of the brave. That's for damn sure.”The Cowboys' BBQ crew is attending 27 rib fests this year. Butler County was No. 4 on the tour.Johnson's schedule includes 29 barbecue competitions.“I just left Fargo, North Dakota, last week,” he says “We're going to Chicago from here.”Johnson liked what he saw Saturday at Butler's inaugural rib fest.“For a first-year event,” he says, “it's doing great.”
