All About The 'Cue

This weekend, Excelsior Springs and the Wabash restaurant hosted The BBQ on The River and Fly In, an annual event celebrating all things 'cue. The centerpiece of the event is the Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned barbecue contest. Plenty of other happenings surrounded the main event, including an air show at Municipal Airport and some sizzling music at Wabash's Blues Garden. We kicked off the weekend at the VIP reception for the Fest at the Hall Of Waters. We enjoyed some typically marvelous pulled pork from Wabash, yummy potato salad and chocolate-covered Oreos and red velvet cake from Oooey Gooey Chocolates. We shared a table with our Elms compatriots Lacee and her husband Jonathan and Jenai and her friend Skyla.

In the meantime, the weather had contributed a rather electrifying element to the events. Already, in the afternoon, tornado warnings went out, the sirens went off and strong storms conspired to upend the whole damn thing. Tents were knocked over and some folks evacuated, but by and large, the BBQ masters were unfazed... the smokers were still going, the beer was still flowing, and the good times were undeterred. Keith and I went on to participate in another Wine and Design, this one at the Excelsior Springs Museum. Daphne poured the vino and Kathleen led us in the creation of our portrait of a pear. Mine ended up being a tad less ripe than the others. Kathleen is pictured with Keith and Marilyn Gerdes is also pictured and she baked the terrific Chili Chocolate cookies that were the hit of the museum's bake sale. Storms continued to rage throughout the evening, but the 'cue masters continued to party on. The weather disrupted the fireworks but KC's own all-drumming, all-dancing Marching Cobras still managed to tear it up in the torrential rains, including some of their young men doing multiple flips in black dress shoes on slick streets. They always amaze....

The next day, it was considerably drier, when we descended on the Day 2 of the festivities. I strolled several blocks of smokiness, as the folks were preparing their ribs and chicken for the judging. Unfazed by the previous night's elemental meddling, the barbecue experts rolled on. After a hazelnut latte and a cake truffle from Carolyn's Cakes at Broadway and Penn(check out Lisa's vintage kitchen room), we headed out to Municipal Airport where they were hosting breakfast and live music to accompany the swooping biplanes and air show wonders. The K-Man stuck with pancakes and I had a very good and cheesy breakfast burrito. We headed back to the hotel to pick up our special guest for the day, Andrea Sporcic, who is Assistant Director of the Missouri Film Commission. Keith was taking Andrea on a tour of Excelsior Springs so that she could photograph multiple sights for possible future film locations and I tagged along. I in fact, learned a bit more about our eccentric little burg on the tour, including how tasty the jambalaya is at the golf course. Andrea is pictured with Keith in the shower room of the old spa in the Hall Of Waters. We had a savory lunch at Daphne's bistro at Willow Spring I ate a delicious turkey and brie panini with blackberry mayo and roasted red pepper soup. I tasted Keith's amazing carrot-ginger soup....not something I would typically prefer and thought was wonderful. I was mesmerized by Andrea's stories about her trips to the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals and fascinated by her tales concerning her job. I'm thinking we need to organize a get-together with Andrea and Danene Beedle for some wine and film fun. Alas, I had to head out to work...






In the end, Blazin' Blues took the big BBQ trophy and despite the weather's attempted coup, the event was a success. Nothin' gets in the way of the almighty 'cue.