The Barbecue Festival weekend was gorgeous – heat, perhaps, but no rain or mud. Heat was also the key word to describe some of the tasty samples our teams were producing in their stands down by the river.
King of the hot pepper was Glen Thomas, Supervisor - Communication and Public Relations, and his smoked chicken wings, thanks to some hot sauce on site aptly named “Glenferno.” Those sampling were left speechless, mainly due to numb lips! Thomas’s team, The Pit & the Pigulum, who have been BBQ Fest participants since 1979, took 10th place in the Shoulders category and competed in the new Kingsford “Tour of Champions” competition.
Swiggin’ N Piggin’, a team that features five MLGW employees including Nick Newman, VP - Construction and Maintenance; Brad Gates, Construction and Maintenance Office - Hickory Hill; Russ Webb, Gas Engineering; Mike Harwell, Customer Service - Brunswick; and Ryan Staggs, Customer Service – South Center, placed Fourth in the Patio Porker category.
Callen Hays, Crisis Management, and Ryan Groves, Business Process Engineering, are members of the Sicilian Smokers, who placed Second in Exotic and Fifth in the Hot Wing categories respectively – some of the best placings for MLGW-related teams in this year’s annual competition.
Michael Page, Customer Service Tech, is team captain of Page’s Pig Pen who placed 12th in the Seafood and 18th in the Shoulder categories. Page’s team has participated for 27 years and had perhaps one of the best spots in Tom Lee Park – facing the Mississippi River with a gorgeous sunset as a backdrop. “It was great to be back on the river this year,” said Page. “Eating ribs, a cold beverage, meeting old and new friends – it’s just a good time. Funerals, weddings and barbecue always make me cry.”
It was obvious that MLGW employees participating as judges were enjoying themselves. What more could you ask for? Judging some of the world’s best barbecue, be it pork, chicken, seafood or something exotic, is such a tough gig!
On Friday, Janice Smythe-Tune, Communications and PR, and her husband, Sam Tune, an MLGW retiree, blind-judged tomato-based sauces and Beef (Janice) and Exotic (Sam) in the Anything-Butt-Pork division. “Saturday morning I had the good fortune to judge three teams on-site in the Shoulder category,” said Smythe-Tune, “Each had previous world championship wins under their belts! The three on-site teams were all experts and I found nothing but tasty, moist and delicious shoulder from each team.”
Patricia White, Office Automation, is a Certified Memphis in May Judge. “On Friday, I judged Anything-Butt which included Tomato Sauce, Beef and Hot Wings,” said White. “On Saturday, I judged blind in the Shoulder and Ribs categories. I had a great time and I met some great people!”
Allan Long, Manager - Regulatory Compliance, judged non-pork barbecue such as poultry, vinegar sauces, exotic and hot wings on Friday, and pork shoulder and ribs on Saturday. His favorite was something exotic, perhaps wild, a dark dense meat with a tasty sauce, folded into a taco with goat cheese. “You get more food when you judge blind (not on-site),” said Allan. “It’s fantastic to be part of one of the events that puts Memphis on the map.”
Charlotte Knight Griffin, Manager - Legal Services, volunteers with Memphis In May on the BBQ Judging Administration Committee. “It’s the committee that’s responsible for implementing the judging system which includes coordinating the various food competitions and the judging itself,” said Griffin. That system of organization helps judges know how to approach and evaluate the tasty entries at each year’s festival. Of course, it’s all down to the taste buds.
It was another May with fantastic weather for barbecue by the river. After recovering from the exhaustion that always follows, these barbecue-dedicated MLGW employees will be ready for next year’s Barbecue Festival with their fellow Memphians as well as Memphis in May’s international visitors who come to the best barbecue competition in the world!
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