Page 10 - NOV2020 BNM Digital Issue

bbq event
GREAT EVENT
Dana “big papa” Hillis
BBQ From Florida
lighthousepointe@ hotmail.com
We heard about a cool event scheduled for Brooksville, Florida, and it sounded too good to pass up! We signed up and headed to Brooksville for a Friday night steak cook, a double steak cook on Saturday, and even one more single event steak cook on Sunday. We rolled in on Friday morning to find a beau- tiful venue with giant green pastures with gorgeous oak trees and an old barn. The hosts and owners of this impressive facil- ity are Suzie and J.O. Batten! The SCA reps were local Brooksville residents Kitty And Chuck Dolan. The venue is called the Hitching Post Barn and is the perfect hosting spot for this event.
Friday night's event was a winner take all jackpot event. This was won by Stacey Croft of Cruiser Q from Moultrie, Georgia. The Top Ten all received cash, and there was even a "kiss your sister award" for 11th place (one spot out of the money). The Saturday event was a double Steak contest with a Spam contest and Anything on a Cracker. Judy Jones won the first contest on Saturday (steak A). The second contest (steak B) would soon be won by Rolfe Garrett of Rockin Robyns BBQ from Forrest Hill, Maryland.
Randy McNight was the winner of the Spam contest and the "Anything on a Cracker" contest. Sunday's steak contest was won by Nathan Cornish of Johnny Mac Wells Smokehouse from Goldsboro, North Carolina.
There was a cash payout to all top ten spots. The winner of the two Saturday and one Sunday event won $1000 each, and the triple bounty award was the high score of the two Saturday, and one Sunday event went to Andy Williams from Canton Mississippi.
Waking up Saturday morning, everyone was welcomed to a beautiful sunrise to sit and enjoy your coffee by, and the cold fresh air was just perfect. When you took a stroll to the beauti- ful barn, you were welcomed by the most incredible group of the "barn chicks" serving up one of the finest Bloody Marys you will ever enjoy. I always liked walking my Bloody Mary thru the garden, but they put this over the top. I have never seen so many items hanging on the top of my cup!
The event had an open bar, a great band, raffles with PK Grills, and other BBQ equipment. A big tip jar was present, and all the proceeds went to a fantastic charitable group called Never Say Never Foundation! This group provides prosthetic
blades to kids that have had limb loss and allows them to run! Enough funds were generated to provide three kids blades, and everyone involved should be proud of such a great organiza- tion.
The event was called the Florida Cracker Classic, which Brooksville was founded on. Susie and J.O. appreciated the SCA's fine folks and will be hosting more events in the future. Chuck and Kitty did a fantastic job, and this contest is one you don't want to miss. The competition included seven of the top ten teams in the country, and some, (along with us Florida teams) need to work just a little harder to beat some of the out of towners!
I was lucky to see a lot of old friends and had a lot of laughs. Rich Eames and his son Shawn came up Friday night and hung out, and we had a blast. Shawn loves to cook and will be sign- ing up for an SCA contest soon. I had a blast Saturday morning watching Gene Skillin trying to teach frisbee golf skills to Jimmy Ragland. If you were parked and set up anywhere near Gene, look for some damages on your equipment. Gene hit air conditioners, bumpers, taillights, trees, and most anything that was not the frisbee basket. Seriously funny stuff. Gene sticks with cooking steaks and catching wild cats.
A big thanks to Brian Coleman for singing the national an- them. You bring patriotism to us, and this country needs a whole lot more of that. There is a new radio station in South Florida called 93.7 Trump Country, and I swear the DJ that sounds like President Trump is Brian working at a new job.
We were supposed to have bad weather all weekend, but Miss Kitty did her anti-rain dance, and the rain surprisingly held off for us. All around, it was a great weekend. A big thanks to Susie and J.O. Batten for hosting this event, and Kitty and Chuck for doing such a great job! Put this event on your schedule when- ever it comes up again!
Please pray for our country for peace and practical actions from all Americans. I hate politics and want people to look out for each other and treat others with respect. Let's all pledge al- legiance, stand for our flag, pray to God and act like real Amer- icans. See everyone at a contest soon! And, cook folks some BBQ. It makes them happy!
Dana"Big Papa" Hillis
BarbecueNews.com - 10
NOVEMBER 2020
GREAT VENUE
FOR SCA