Monday, August 10, 2009

celebrate Maine festival


This past Saturday at the Raitt farm, the "celebrate Maine Festival" was being held. I had heard that it was quite fun, and the fact that Becky and Butch would be there with their team, I told Ed we had to take the time to go.

"sadly" Saturday was already jammed packed with things to do, I had a private student in the morning, the camp to get ready for new people, and the usual barn chores. Ed wanted to get some work done on the house.. but we took the late afternoon and went. I wished we had gone a little earlier, because when we arrived, things were actually closing up. The craft part wasn't as big as I thought (or hoped) but what we found out, was it was a huge Barbecue cookoff. And from what we were told, this was a "really important" one... the winner would be heading to the nationals.




Now I don't know much about this "BBQ" thing, to me it means having friends over and throwing something on the grill!!! But for these folks, it's huge and they are serious!!!!

We talked with one group for quite awhile, they have their own secret sauce and calculations for how long the cooking process is, and he ONLY uses apple wood in his cooker.




And this is his cooker!!! all made and designed by him. This particular gentlemen has traveled all over the country and was even seen on the Food TV channel. I guess he has come quite close to winning a spot in the nationals, and was really hoping this would be his year!!!

The governor of Maine had to declare this event as a cook off, so that it would qualify these entries as part of the nationals. There was also a 200.00 entry fee for each person there.




I wished that they would be able to "vendor" the food that they cooked, but I guess there are special permits and the like needed to be able to do that. So, basically for the "on lookers" all you could do was watch them work, and see what they were cooking. We didn't go back on Sunday for the big "cook off", so I can't tell you how "our friend" made out, maybe if he won and I see him on the Food Channel I will remember him.

But the thing that "got me the most" was the fact that if anyone is going thru life, thinking that there isn't much "to do".. then they are really missing out on things. It seems to me that if you have an interested in just about anything.. there is a "group" for it, and that you can get as serious as you choose. Personally, I didn't really understand the qualifications for this, but you can see what people have "invested" to be a part of it. The same with me and dog shows, or the few quilting competitions I have been in.

Life is pretty interesting!!!!!