Barbecue Festival

Ana took the 6 of us home for the annual Kentucky barbecue festival. We left after work Friday and drove through the evening and into the night. We invaded Ana's house and enjoyed her parents' gracious hospitality.

Saturday afternoon, the six of us and Ana's brother headed out to the barbecue festival, what has been called "Kentucky at its finest"... though that title may have been a tad tongue-in-cheek. We started off at the car show, where cars of all sizes, shapes, and colored were displayed for people more knowledgeable than myself to enjoy. I wandered it with my community, but that wasn't really my thing.

Next, we came to the vendors. Jewelry, clothing, yard ornaments, woodwork, metal work, and other crafts adorned booths along the sides of the roads. For those of you who are familiar with it, it was like Occoquan Days. But where Occoquan Days has a more upscale edge, the barbecue fest was unabashedly country.

I noticed mostly by the people who walked the streets. You could have taken any of the booths and transplanted it to any other street fair and it would have fit in. However all around me, voices spoke in country accents, more like Ana's than the southwestern Virginia drawl. The air was festive and people friendly. I even won a bag of Tabasco potato chips by throwing a tiny basketball into a hoop... on the 4th try.

Then we got to the food. Of course, we had our choice of fried anything. I chose something I'd never had before : fried green tomatoes. They were delicious! I highly approve and strongly recommend them to anyone in search of fried.

Past the food vendors came the churches and groups competing for the best meat and burgoo -- the highlight of the festival. Prizes are awarded for mutton, pork, chicken, and burgoo. The three meats are pretty straightforward, but the last in the list... The men cook meat and some veggies and spices in huge pots to create a soup/stew that is full and savory and like nothing I've ever tasted, but that ought to be canned and sent to me often. We ate at Ana's church's tent and I tried mutton for the first time, stealing a bite from Em's sandwich. We later found out that we were eating the best mutton and burgoo in town -- Ana's church won first in mutton and burgoo and grand prize at the barbecue festival!

We went home for a fun dinner with Ana's parents, brother, and grandparents and went and raised trouble at Wal-Mart; then Ana, Byrd, MeeMaw, and I returned to hear one of Ana's friends singing back at the festival. He sang acoustic country, which is pretty much my favorite. It was cold though, with a cold wind off the river, which is pretty much not my favorite, so we bolted as soon as he was done.

The weekend ended with another procession to crown Mary for Mother's Day, a brunch with Ana's family, and a trip to a labyrinth on the way home. And then we were back in Saint Louis.