Memphis’ World Championship BBQ Festival: A Pig Deal in Tom Lee Pork @memphisinmay

The Memphis In May World Championship BBQ Festival has always been a big deal in Memphis, It’s about four days of food and fun in Memphis’ Tom Lee Park, and fortunately, this year the sun was out, and much of the muddiness from the Beale Street Music Festival had dried out. Teams come from all over the country to compete in what is probably the largest barbecue festival in the world, and although you cannot sample the contestants barbecue or enter their areas without permission, half of the fun is seeing their decorated shelters and seeing the hilarious names that teams come up with. Of course some teams represents businesses like The Shed in Ocean Springs, Willingham’s and Double J Smokehouse in Memphis, or Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur, Alabama, and these typically are simply named for the business, which is also generally true for teams representing the Army Corps of Engineers or other governmental entities. Of the other teams, an amazing array of creativity goes into the names. References to films are popular, including “Natural Born Grillers”, “Aporkalypse Now” or “Reservoir Hogz”. Even more common are puns off music groups, such as the “Moody Ques”, “Notorious P.I.G.”, “The Count Bastie Porkestra” or “The Bastey Boyz.” At least one team referenced Elvis with “Love Meat Tender”! Unfortunately, health department regulations prohibit guests from sampling the competition entry barbecue, although one team, that of the late John Willingham was offering their competition barbecue for sale from a food truck. I tried it, and it was quite good. I later heard that The Shed from Ocean Springs, Mississippi was the big winner at this year’s competition.