18^th Annual BBQ N Blues Festival

June 8, 2013

            The 2013 BBQ ‘N Blues Festival will be held on Saturday, June 8.  The Festival is the way that the Cushing Chamber of Commerce and its members as well as the City of Cushing pays tribute to the Pipeline Industry.  The pipeline companies also are very heavily involved in the Saturday festivities.  The companies each barbecue 100 pounds of brisket to serve to those barbecue afficionados who come out each year to enjoy the food, live music and children’s activities.

            However, Saturday is not the start of the event.  The Thursday before the Festival pipeline companies, their employees, friends and business acquaintances tee off at the Cushing Country Club early on Thursday morning at the Pipeline Appreciation Golf Tournament.  Two rounds of golf, one in the morning and one in the afternoon on Thursday and one round of golf Friday morning are held.  In 2012, seventy-nine (79) teams were entered and played in the golf tournament. 

            We have added a sporting clay shooting event to the BBQ 'N Blues Festival, which will be held the Friday before the festival.  Three rounds will be held, one round at 8:00 a.m., second round  at 10:30a.m., and a third round at 2:00 p.m.

            Then that evening, those same people along with the BBQ ‘N Blues Festival Sponsors gather at the BBQ ‘N Blues Festival Site for a private party held in their honor to relax, listen to live music and in general enjoy each other’s company.

            The BBQ ‘N Blues Festival will be held in the evening.  It will start at 5:00 p.m. and go until 10:00 p.m.  The Festival on Saturday is open to the public.  There is no admission fee, however, should you want to taste some of the most delicious barbecue for miles around, it will cost you $5 to buy a “Taster’s Kit.”  That will entitle you to try as much barbecue as you can eat. 

            The barbecue is prepared on the World’s Largest Permanent Smoker.  Thanks to the generosity and hard work by Larry Brewer and his Matrix team, this year we will have 15 arms extending from the firebox.  They are in the process now of constructing this work of art onsite.  Last year only 11 arms were accessible and filled up quickly, leaving many who wanted to grill and show off their BBQing abilities left out.  Not the case this year!!  The way it works is 15 arms extend from the firebox and each company who cooks hangs their grill from one of the arms and uses the firebox in the smoker to prepare their meat.  This year’s companies that will be doing the cooking are Enterprise Products, Plains, Enbridge, Matrix Service, Gavilon, Sunoco Logistics, SemCrude, Centurion, Blue Knight, Magellan, Deeprock/Mercuria, TransCanada, and Deeprock.

            Somewhere around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday evening, awards will be given out in two categories.  One is known as the “People’s Choice” and the second will be the “Judges’ Choice.”  Besides having three judges whose job is to decide who has the best tasting barbecued brisket, the people who purchase Taster’s Kits will also be supplied with a ticket that will allow them to vote for their favorite barbecue.  The competition is fierce and the winner gets to brag for an entire year until the next BBQ ‘N Blues Festival.  Their competition ensures that the brisket you eat will be the best you ever had! 

            The Festival is called BBQ ‘N Blues so let’s talk about the Blues part of the Festival.  In 2012, we were fortunate to have one of the most talented up and coming Blues singers/musicians in the world, Little Joe McLerran from Sapulpa, Oklahoma.  In 2013, we have selected two great bands to keep your toes tappin'.  First up is Kalamity Jane.  We had the honor of having them play at the Festival in the Park last year, and can't wait for another awesome performance from those ladies during the BBQ 'N Blues!  If you haven't heard these ladies yet, you are in for a special treat!  To finish up the night we have the Sena Ehrhardt Band.  They have been making quite a name for themselves, being labeled as one of the freshest and most dynamic young voices on the blues scene today.  You can go to www.cushingchamber.org and click on Annual Events, go to BBQ N Blues and then find the Entertainment Page.  There you can get a taste of the fantastic music that you will hear on Saturday night.