10 Days Until The Blue Gypsy Bluesfest: Giving Thanks to The BBQ Competitors

Six months of planning is coming to fruition in just 10 more days. This has been one of the steepest learning curves putting together an event of this magnitude. The thing that has kept me moving along is that it’s for such an amazing cause. Habitat for Humanity.

I’ve met so many wonderful people who have put their great energy along side mine, not just for the advertising, but also because they believed in the idea and the spirit behind this event. What better way to give then to have fun while doing it!

So many things are coming together at the last moment. So many great local businesses and people are donating to the charity silent auction. We are definitely going to have Corn Hole there to play. We may even (If I can find someone to run it) Have a tournament…but honestly I know nothing about corn hole competition. But hey, I didn’t know anything about BBQ competition either when I started this whole thing (errr still don’t) But I felt strongly about putting together a friendly (Even though I was told there is no friendly in BBQ) competition with a people’s choice element. And slowly one by one the BBQ restaurants caught my fever and joined in.

The first BBQ restaurant to throw their hat into the ring was Mick’s Too. They are around the corner from my old house in Norfolk, and when I talked to Mike, one of the owners, on the phone and told him what I was doing for charity he didn’t even hesitate. He was all for supporting habitat for humanity, and his wife and partner Angel has lived up to her name. I always feel a warmth of great energy wash over me when I walk in there.

The second BBQ restaurant to agree to participate, Mojo Bones, was another risk taker. It was a lot to ask the two restaurants to participate with out any security that more restaurants would join in, and Don, the owner of Mojo Bones, also in Ocean View, and now with a second location in ODU, was willing to do it no matter whether any other restaurants joined in, or not. The early competitors agreed to provide all the food.

Then Kevin over at Jake’s BBQ just around the corner from Hunt Club Farm, where we are having the event, said sure he’d love to. Again such nice energy over the phone and even nicer energy when I finally met him in person only last week!

Number four. The Guys at Big Knife Cooking, just coming off a fundraiser of their own, Ribs for Kids for CHKD (Another of my favorite charities) also have such big hearts. Here they were just in one charity fundraiser and they didn’t seem to think twice about saying yes to getting involved in ours! They cater parties, and do competitions and it looks like their BBQ may be coming to the snack shack inside the Flea Market at SONO. So great things are happening.

Our final contender in this year’s BBQ competition is Smokey Bones near Town Center. I confirmed their entry while at a family wedding in Colorado. Talk about stress taking off for a week with less than a month to go before the charity event! When I finally sat down with Mike and Mike, two of the managers at Smokey Bones, I realized I was in the presence of yet more great energy. Everyone was excited and the energy keeps building.

So this is just the great folks who have gotten involved from the BBQ side! I can’t even begin to tell you about all the other wonderful folks. At least not in this blog post because a long day of getting the word out about the event has me tired out. More information to come about everyone else involved in this spectacular event.