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Even if the barbecue team Swine Flew loses, they’ll still have that nifty plane – er, smoker.
And they’ll still have that... name.
“They named the flu after my cooking,” Bill Rosseau of Grain Valley said Friday night, the official kick-off of the Blue Springs Barbeque Blaze-Off. “But at least it won’t get you sick.”
Sitting plane-side is Rosseau and his buddies, Marty Edwards and Kevin Butler, members of the Missouri River Valley Skydivers. While the smoke isn’t rising quite yet, there is food in the cabin of the salvaged 1958 Cessna 182 Skyline, a single-engine aircraft Rosseau salvaged about 19 years ago.
“Back then we didn’t know what we were going to do with it,” Edwards said. A Lee Summit resident, he, too, has been coming to the blaze-off for the last 19 years.
“We’ve been here a long time,” he said.
They haven’t won first place at the popular Blue Springs event, but they’ve won first place at other competitions. And, heck, who cares – they have a plane for a smoker.
“I remember us all sitting in the yard, drinking beers, wondering what we were going to do with the thing,” Edwards said.
The answer was simple: hollow it out, put a smoker inside the cabin, a fire box beside it and make room near the rear for cords of wood. Then make some minor adjustments, throw some ribs, pork loins, chicken and sausage inside and close the door.
“See that belt,” Butler said, leaning sideways and poking his head through the propellers where the engine used to be. “That turns the trays inside. Cook a ton of meat inside – all separated, of course.”
A casual Friday night stroll at the blaze-off isn’t without surprise and/or shock. This year marks the 26th time teams gathered at Hidden Valley Park, arriving Thursday and starting the process at sunset. Friends gathering and talking. Business associates pitching horseshoes and networking, their wet, sticky chins hovering over cans of cold beer.
Some of the team names (and the art emblazoned on banners and steel) are worth a visit: Big Wigs (last year’s champs), Hog Wild, Pigs in Space, Bid Wiz Players, Nothing Butt Smoke, Smoke Em if You Got Em, Buzzard’s Roost Barbecue.
The smoker’s were cool, too: there was a beer keg at one tent; at another, the smoker appeared to be a large outhouse.
“You see some strange ones out here,” Edwards said.
Like a plane named Swine Flew.
“Well, back then there were some flu strains,” Rosseau said. “But we didn’t name it after the flu. Look at the spelling.”
Teams have come from as far as Iowa, though most are from the Kansas and Missouri areas. Other teams are from Lone Jack and Lake Tapawingo, Blue Springs and Independence. Most are competing in categories for $10,000 in prize money.
Winners can later qualify for the Missouri State Championship and an opportunity to compete at the Jack Daniel’s Invitational Barbecue World Championship in Tennessee.
“It’s not even really about winning,” Butler said. A Blue Springs resident, he said the event is a chance to hang out, cook and eat food, and have a good time. “That’s always been our focus.”
The $1 tickets for the buck-a-bone are at the information booth, and money raised (20 cents for every $1 ticket sold) will benefit the Blue Springs Community Services League. Last year, $4,500 was raised for the CSL.
Buck-a-bone ticket sales continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.
Entertainment also will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday – a mixture of local bands.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, there will be the public salsa contest. Approximately 20 entries will be judged, 16 of which will be from Blue Springs.
Winners will be announced at 4 p.m.
Even if the barbecue team Swine Flew loses, they’ll still have that nifty plane – er, smoker.
And they’ll still have that... name.
“They named the flu after my cooking,” Bill Rosseau of Grain Valley said Friday night, the official kick-off of the Blue Springs Barbeque Blaze-Off. “But at least it won’t get you sick.”
Sitting plane-side is Rosseau and his buddies, Marty Edwards and Kevin Butler, members of the Missouri River Valley Skydivers. While the smoke isn’t rising quite yet, there is food in the cabin of the salvaged 1958 Cessna 182 Skyline, a single-engine aircraft Rosseau salvaged about 19 years ago.
“Back then we didn’t know what we were going to do with it,” Edwards said. A Lee Summit resident, he, too, has been coming to the blaze-off for the last 19 years.
“We’ve been here a long time,” he said.
They haven’t won first place at the popular Blue Springs event, but they’ve won first place at other competitions. And, heck, who cares – they have a plane for a smoker.
“I remember us all sitting in the yard, drinking beers, wondering what we were going to do with the thing,” Edwards said.
The answer was simple: hollow it out, put a smoker inside the cabin, a fire box beside it and make room near the rear for cords of wood. Then make some minor adjustments, throw some ribs, pork loins, chicken and sausage inside and close the door.
“See that belt,” Butler said, leaning sideways and poking his head through the propellers where the engine used to be. “That turns the trays inside. Cook a ton of meat inside – all separated, of course.”
A casual Friday night stroll at the blaze-off isn’t without surprise and/or shock. This year marks the 26th time teams gathered at Hidden Valley Park, arriving Thursday and starting the process at sunset. Friends gathering and talking. Business associates pitching horseshoes and networking, their wet, sticky chins hovering over cans of cold beer.
Some of the team names (and the art emblazoned on banners and steel) are worth a visit: Big Wigs (last year’s champs), Hog Wild, Pigs in Space, Bid Wiz Players, Nothing Butt Smoke, Smoke Em if You Got Em, Buzzard’s Roost Barbecue.
The smoker’s were cool, too: there was a beer keg at one tent; at another, the smoker appeared to be a large outhouse.
“You see some strange ones out here,” Edwards said.
Like a plane named Swine Flew.
“Well, back then there were some flu strains,” Rosseau said. “But we didn’t name it after the flu. Look at the spelling.”
Teams have come from as far as Iowa, though most are from the Kansas and Missouri areas. Other teams are from Lone Jack and Lake Tapawingo, Blue Springs and Independence. Most are competing in categories for $10,000 in prize money.
Winners can later qualify for the Missouri State Championship and an opportunity to compete at the Jack Daniel’s Invitational Barbecue World Championship in Tennessee.
“It’s not even really about winning,” Butler said. A Blue Springs resident, he said the event is a chance to hang out, cook and eat food, and have a good time. “That’s always been our focus.”
The $1 tickets for the buck-a-bone are at the information booth, and money raised (20 cents for every $1 ticket sold) will benefit the Blue Springs Community Services League. Last year, $4,500 was raised for the CSL.
Buck-a-bone ticket sales continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.
Entertainment also will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday – a mixture of local bands.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, there will be the public salsa contest. Approximately 20 entries will be judged, 16 of which will be from Blue Springs.
Winners will be announced at 4 p.m.
