Our little California contingent consisting of Dave Malone of All Sauced Up and Benny Adauto, my teammate, and his wife Shari attended our first KCBS TOY Awards Banquet in Kansas City on January 15, 2011. We were also joined by fellow Californians Thom Emery, Lori and Dave Lopp, Kelly and Kathleen Macintosh, and Gene Goycochea.
There seemed like 400-500 guests were there at the Kansas City Hyatt. We took six walks for 3rd place KCBS TOY, 4th TOY chicken, 8th TOY Ribs, 16th TOY Pork, and 15th TOY Brisket, and 1st KCBS Ranchers Reserve Brisket. Only 6 teams out of 4,000+ plus teams took four walks in each meat category according to the KCBS announcer.
It was also great to see old friends and catch up on news. Everyone was relaxed as this was not a BBQ contest and cooking was not on everyone’s minds.
The evening ended with the raffle, and we were able to bid for and purchase entry certificates for various California contests from teams who had won entry to California contests. We also met new potential sponsors and many great BBQ teams and pitmasters. We went back to our hotel rooms tired but elated that our West Coast team had such a strong showing in the BBQ capital of the world and the wonderful relationships we had cultivated during our short three years as a BBQ team. We are looking forward to the 2012 awards banquet. Who knows what surprises are in store as our BBQ adventure continues.
