It was a beautiful day for amateur and professional barbecue last Saturday at
BBQ in the Glen, a non-sanctioned three-meat event held in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, CA. Organized by the Downtown Willow Glen Business Association as a charity fundraiser and held in the Bank of America parking lot, this fun event drew people off busy Lincoln Avenue and into the venue where they could enjoy barbecue, beer and wine, while checking out the competition teams and judging process.
Tracy Allen of California BBQ Association was on-hand to administer the contest judging. If I remember correctly, there were 8 pro teams and about 13 amateur teams. The judges were a mix of KCBS certified BBQ judges, VIP judges, and non-certified volunteers. The VIPs and volunteers got a crash-course in judging from Tracy an hour before turn-in time. The three contest meats were chicken, tri-tip, and pork ribs.
I did double-duty, serving as both a meat judge and a table captain administering the judging process at my table. I'd never done double-duty before, and this was a good contest for trying it because we only had 4-5 entries per round at our table, and the somewhat relaxed rules of this non-sanctioned contest took some of the pressure off, too.
Here are some photos of the event, I hope you enjoy them!
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