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  • Erin Arney, of Louisville, helps serve food for Shane’s Rib Shack on Saturday at Jeffersonville’s Smokin’ on the River Festival. Photo by Joseph Dever

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June 19, 2011

Teams try to smoke competition at barbecue festival

Warren Co. Pork Choppers win top prize among pros

BY JOSEPH DEVER newsroom@newsandtribune.com

JEFFERSONVILLE — With the smell of smoked ribs, juicy pork and barbecue chicken in the air, crowds enjoyed a day of summertime fun at Jeffersonville’s Smokin’ on the River Festival.

In its third year, this annual, two-day event lasted for 12 hours on both Friday and Saturday. Along with a cook-off competition, there were also live bands playing blues music for a hungry crowd.

“I didn’t know about it until today, but with blues and barbecue on the river, man, you just can’t beat that,” Harry Cole, of Scottsburg, said.

Sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society, the festival was also Indiana’s second-largest barbecue competition. About 40 professional teams competed against each other for bragging rights and to also qualify for other national competitions.

Waiz Guy BBQ was listed in the amateur category last year, but this year they moved up to the professional level and won sixth place overall. The team from Corydon won several awards.

The team’s head cook, Ryan Waiz, said he especially likes coming to this festival.

“They treated us so well here, you get hooked on it,” Waiz said. “Even though it seems to rain every year they have this cook-off, we still love it.”

Warren Co. Pork Choppers of Bowling Green, Ky., won the top prize in the professional category.

But not everyone was cooking in the professional teams. About a dozen other teams competed in the backyard category, which is made up of amateur barbecue cooks.

Pop’s Belly BBQ of Columbus, Ind., won the top prize in the backyard category.

New to the festival this year, a tasting tent offered beer and food samples from local restaurants. Some patrons, like Marlinda Stull, of Corydon, said she liked what the tent had to offer.

“From hoppy to crisp beer, they’ve got something for everybody,” Stull said. “Everyone should be able to find something they like. This is a great event. There’s nothing like this across the river, and what they have here is excellent.”

Just for fun, the festival also featured a children’s zone with inflatable bouncing houses, and there were also decorated concrete pigs that advertised local businesses.

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