smoke on the river

Saturday was pretty nice and after we did our morning activities - a 46-mile road ride for H; dragging B around my 3.5 mile loop and then weeding the backyard garden beds for me - we headed towards Heber City for the Smoke on the River BBQ Championship ... hoping to get a lead on some decent Utah barbecue.

The event was held at River's Edge at Deer Park, an RV-park/campground located on the Provo River right underneath the dam at the Jordanelle Reservoir.  (Literally right underneath the dam: we were way under the level of the water and if the dam had given way, we would have been obliterated.  Lucky for us, the dam looks to be pretty solid.)  This is a pretty cool little family-run campground with big rig/RV hook-ups, cabins that sleep 4-6, wooden "yurts" that sleep 2 and a big "family compound" for up to 15 folks.

Can you read it? "IQ4U"

There were food vendors - Tommy's Texas BBQ (whom we will be visiting when next in Heber City, at 100S 650 W), corn on the cob (with this wicked cool corn cooker that looked like a giant one of those cafeteria toasters, where you put the corn in one side and the conveyor belt delivers it all roasted on the other side), hand-fried potato chips, beer - jewelry and crafts.  Live music played all day: we got there for Lash Larue, who played some very agreeable bluegrass-ish tunes.  And all around the campground the competitors had their smokers set up.  Most of them were BBQ competition teams who also do catering, but there was a backyard division for amateurs too.  Everywhere you walked, you could smell smoked meats ... it was heavenly.

Tasty pulled pork with very excellent pickles

The event was a little expensive for how low-key it was, with a $10 per person entry fee, plus paying for your food and your beer.  But we decided we really couldn't complain as we sat in the sun, eating pulled pork and brisket sandwiches (quite good), drinking Moab Brewery Dead Horse Ale and listening to bluegrass by the riverside.  We stayed to watch the awards ceremony: the grand prize winners, local boys R&R Barbecue, won around $4,000 (in addition to winning the whole shebang, they placed in every category, I believe, including at least two firsts) and are headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee, in October for the 2011 Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue.  That's cool - make SLC proud, boys!