Published: March 09, 2006 12:28 pm            

Riverboat Days adds barbecue contest

CLINTON — Clinton Riverboat Days has announced a new event for this year’s festival.

Smokin on the River, sponsored by Lyondell Chemicals, will be a barbecue contest on Riverview Drive featuring competitors from Clinton County and as far away as Texas. The contest is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (www.kcbs.us). Teams will be competing for $10,000 total in prizes.

There will be four categories: Chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder and beef brisket. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has granted state champion status to the team that ranks as Smokin on the River’s grand champion.

“The state championship status allows the winner of our contest to compete in national championship competitions,” said Ryan Veenstra, vice commodore of the 2006 Riverboat Days festival.

The contest will be judged by certified KCBS judges. There will be a certified judges class in Clinton, on March 25 at the Vista Grande, 2141 16th St. NW, from 10 am. to 2 p.m. The class and certification is $75, which includes a membership to the KCBS, or $45 for current members of the KCBS.

With the certification, judges will be able to judge contests all over the country.

There are nine other contests in the state of Iowa including the Tri-State BBQ Cook-off in Dubuque, and the 15th Annual Illinois State Barbeque Competition will be in Shannon on the weekend after Riverboat Days.

Entry forms for the judging class can be downloaded at www.riverboatdays.org or picked up at Fuller Kitchen and Bath, 151 Fourth Avenue South.

For more information, contact Veenstra at 243-0344 or e-mail at r.veenstra@excite.com.

        

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