Hey Gang! Here's what's happening the world of Illinois BBQ Society... -> Holy Smoke BBQ Cook-Off, August 11th -> Three ILBBQS Members Get Calls in Marshalltown -> Breese Farmer's Market Cook-Off Deemed Successful -> Heard Around the Smoke Ring -> Heads Up... -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- This newsletter brought to you by: Southern Illinois Bluegrass & BBQ Festival September 7th-8th, 2007 ~ Family Fun! KCBS Sanctioned, State Championship Contest http://www.BluegrassBBQ.com EARLYBIRD SIGN-UP BY END OF JULY! -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- -> Holy Smoke BBQ Cook-Off, August 11th It's Official! Salem, Illinois just may be the hottest, most smokin' city to be this summer for good BBQ. The Holy Smoke BBQ Cook-Off, scheduled for Saturday, August 11th, will be held in conjunction with a Washer Tournament at St. Theresa's Catholic Church. It is designed as a pre-cursor to the Southern Illinois Bluegrass & BBQ Festival. The ILBBQS is co-sponsoring this backyard contest with TourSalem!! as a way for 'new' and 'local' teams to get familiar with cooking in contest situation, and as a practice ground for 'seasoned' teams to try out new recipes and techniques. This one-day cook will feature three meat categories and follow KCBS standards for rules and presentation. Each team must cook the three categories of Chicken, Ribs and Sausage in order to qualify for the Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion prizes. There is a $50 Entry Fee, and the purse has been set $100 + Free Entry to the SIBBBQ for Grand Champion; $75 + 1/2 price entry into the SIBBBQ; and $50 for each of the winners of the three meat categories. For additional information, check out the Events page or visit the cook-off site at http://www.gosalem.com/holysmoke . *************************************** -> Three ILBBQS Members Get Calls in Marshalltown, Iowa Getting calls over the weekend in Marshalltown, Iowa were... Bar-B-Quau: 6th OVERALL; 1st - Turkey; 5th - Dessert; 9th - Chicken; 4th - Brisket Ulcer Acres: 8th OVERALL; 10th - Dessert; 7th - Pork; 5th - Brisket Doctor Porkenstein: 6th - Ribs CONGRATS AND WAY TO REPRESENT ILLINOIS BBQ! *************************************** -> Breese Farmer's Market Cook-Off Deemed Successful The 1st Annual Breese Farmer's Market BBQ Cook-Off made it in under the weather gun, and according to the organizers was successful. This Clinton County backyard contest was attended by 11 teams; cooked three categories of Brisket, Whole Chicken, and Spare Ribs. Though full results have not been sent to me at time of publication, I do know there were three ILBBQS members who cooked the contest...Hogs-N-Heat, Iron Pigs BBQ, and Chubby's BBQ. Organizers say this is definitely going to repeat in 2008! *************************************** -> Heard Around the Smoke Ring Steve Abrams (Da Burnt Food Dude) sent in the BBQer's Creed... Whether the weather be fine Or whether the weather be not Whether the weather be cold Or whether the weather be hot We'll BBQ in all the weather Whatever the weather Whether we like it or not. Thanks Steve! (And thanks for doing a great job as moderator of the ILBBQS Bulletin Board!) *************************************** -> Heads Up... ---> 2008 is going to be a Leap Year...this could really throw a monkey wrench into contest planning. If you're an organizer, and like to hold your contest on certain dates, be sure to check your calendar and make sure you're not overlapping an established contest that is annual on certain weekends. Although it’s great that we're getting more contests in the state, if they're all on the same weekends each year it can put the brakes on future growth; although devout carnivores, we certainly do not want to cannibalize other contests for teams if we can at all avoid it. ---> If you're not a regular at the BBQ Forum, you may not have heard that the Iowa BBQ Society has received a 'blanket' proclamation from their Governor for any KCBS sanctioned contest in the state; automatically making all KCBS contests a State Championship. Bravo to the Iowa group for taking some of the headache out of organizing a KCBS contest. Taking cue from them, I have contacted the Illinois Governor's Office to inquire about having such a proclamation made for Illinois...so far they have not returned my calls, but I will certainly keep after them. I have also contacted KCBS to make sure such a proclamation will cover the requirements of being a State Championship...they are checking into it and will let me know...I will keep after them too. ---> The ILBBQS.com website was down for a few hours on Wednesday morning but is up and running without problems. Our host provider for the site (based in Dallas, Texas) had a massive power failure yesterday morning that caused widespread outages of our site, as well as several thousand of their other customers. I am sorry if you needed information from the site while it was down, but all is back to normal and running smoothly now. Thank you for your patience while the problem was fixed! *************************************** If you have a BBQ related news item you would like to share with the group, be sure to send it in! There is an easy-to-use 'Submit News' button on our website at http://www.ILBBQS.com ...use it often! As always, if you have any pictures, stories, news items, comments, suggestions, questions, or ideas, let me know! Carpe 'Que, Jim 'Rhino' Reincke Illinois BBQ Society Online: http://www.ILBBQS.com Email: bbq@ilbbqs.com Phone: (618) 740-4535