Interstate BBQ Festival Hagerstown, Maryland April 20-21, 2018
Comments Off on Interstate BBQ Festival Hagerstown, Maryland April 20-21, 2018By Mark Gibbs, Pitmaster of Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
The 3rd year of what has become one of the best competitions on the Mid-Atlantic BBQ circuit is in the books. The Interstate BBQ Festival at the Washington County Agricultural Center in Hagerstown, Maryland stacked up 67 tough teams to compete in the last throws of winter weather. The facilities are top notch for the cook teams. Rob Immer and his staff know how to throw a BBQ party for sure.
The weekend started off on Friday with a couple of ancillary competitions and a Kids Que. In the burger category, Dustin Reed and his sous chef Clint from The Inked Pig BBQ brought home top honors. In the dessert category a last-minute decision to enter by 50 Shades of Pork paid off with a 1st Place win. In the Kids Que, tacos were the dish of choice and Brother-Uncle Barbeque’s youngest member put together a mouthwatering dish that brought home a nice GC!
Todd and Donna Spickler of Bone to Bark BBQ hosted a pot luck chicken dinner for all of the teams on Friday night. It was great to see our MidAtlantic friends back on the BBQ circuit after some back problems kept Todd from the tour for much of 2017. Welcome back B2B!
The results of the Pro BBQ competition started off with the triumphant return of Bone to Bark BBQ and a win in the chicken category. Ribs saw a familiar face at the top of the list with Richmond, VA’s Wolf’s Revenge and Chiles Cridlin taking home 1st place. 3 Eyz BBQ out of Owings Mills, MD took home the big trophy in Pork and Piggin’ Whiskey BBQ Team racked up the win in Brisket.
The top 10 in each category was separated by 6 points or less except chicken. Everyone was guessing who was going to take home the big prize, but it was a tough one to figure out for sure. Smokestack Redemption hailing from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania got the big call for Grand Champion. They had a great cook and put together a 14th place chicken, 5th in Ribs, 12th in Pork and 7th in Brisket for the win. Shortsville Smokers with Rikk Foringer put together a great effort to take home the RGC as well. This year Interstate hosted the MABA Maryland State Cup for the first time. Dan Hixon and 3 Eyz BBQ brought home the top Maryland honors with a 4th Place finish overall.
If you have not done this contest as a cook, judge or BBQ fan, you need to add it to your list of contests in 2019. This one is quickly becoming one of the top early contests in the nation!
For Full KCBS results, click here.