Smoke in the Valley, Greenlane, PA
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By Megan Ferguson, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster of Finn’s Finest BBQ Team |
Smoke in the Valley – Mud Fest There was no sugar coating it in Green Lane, PA this past weekend. There was cold, wet, sloshy, deep brown stuff everywhere. No, not poop…MUD! And it never went away. Let’s start with the smart teams. Ya know, those that pulled in Thursday before the rest of us got there and tore up the field. These guys pulled into the field, parked their rigs and unloaded, no problems! The rest of us learned quickly how lucky those smart Thursday arriving teams were. Thankfully, the Green Lane Fire Company volunteers had our backs and were ready with a tractor to pull all the teams with trailers in on Friday. Many of us didn’t even bother driving our trucks into the area. However, those that did might wish they hadn’t as we saw several of them being pulled out Saturday evening. |
Mud everywhere!
Nasty weather can be expected at a BBQ competition, but I don’t think anyone was really prepared for the amount of mud that the valley would produce. When I say we were up to our ears in mud, I’m really not that far off. If you didn’t bring a good pair of boots with you, you were in a bad spot for the entire weekend. Many times throughout the weekend, you would catch some of the kids swimming through the trenches or engaging in a good old fashioned mud ball fight. It certainly helped lighten the mood watching them parade around, covered head to foot in thick, brown, sloppy wet stuff. They were having the time of their lives. The mud didn’t stop anything. On Friday, meats got inspected as teams rolled in. The volunteers were very visible throughout the contest, riding around on four wheelers, delivering straw to each site to soak up as much of the wet stuff as possible, dropping off ice, and picking up trash. If anyone needed anything, they didn’t have to wait long for a volunteer to round the corner. There were a variety of food vendors, just in case you didn’t plan your dinner. Unfortunately, the huge Friday bonfire was postponed due to the pile being pretty much soaked. |
Deep mud tracks!
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The kiddos enjoying the mud!
Tractors were needed to pull trailers in and out of the competition|
Saturday morning, we were greeted with even more rain. But a hot breakfast including scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, French toast, and all the fixins’ was served in the firehouse. They even had pitchers of Bloody Mary’s ready at the firehouse bar. Well prepared indeed! Turn-ins went as planned and all teams made it to the table in all four categories without incident. The rain finally let up early afternoon and a few rays of sunshine started to beam through the clouds. Fire company volunteers went right to work pulling teams out of the valley as soon as they were ready. Awards were held in the pavilion at 4:45 with Shawn Tucker getting down to business on calling out the winners. Big shout out to Shawn and his team of volunteers for all of their hard work and efforts during this contest! |
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Finn’s Finest BBQ takes GC in Green Lane!|
First Place Winners: Grand Champion – Finn’s Finest BBQ Check out the full competition results here. |
