Owensboro BBQ Festival

We're going this weekend. Any recommendations from veterans on how to proceed? Do you buy the "mutton glutton" ticket? Do you just wander about and taste?

Thanks in advance.

I was there last year. My recommendation, just eat. There are six major teams - five churchs and one non-church. And there is a city block of independent charactgers (back yard barbecuers) that gives theirs away for free and happy to chat a bit about their craft. Most of the teams, in addition to barbecue, brew up vats of burgoo you'll have to try too.

As I recall, the six teams all start serving at a set time. Don't blink. It's all gone in a half hour or less.

Sorry for my ignorance, but where in the world is Owensboro? Just wondering.........

Owensboro is in the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky... Home of the best mutton BBQ, mullets, no teeth and tattoos, and thats just the women....I can say this because it's been my home for 7 years now

On the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Between Louisville and Evansville.

OK, Kentucky. Thanks for clearing that up. On another note, I was watching the FOODNETWORK 2 days ago and they had a show on the best BBQ in the nation. One of the places that they went was Kentucky. They were at the Derby (among other places) and these guys were cooking a stew in these HUGE pots. What is that stuff. I assume that it's pretty good, because everyone was boasting about it.

Hi Skinsfan, that concoction is the stew known as Burgoo. I tried it at the Moonlite in Owensboro and it is very tasty. It is similar to the Brunswick stew served in Georgia except the primary meats include mutton. Welcome aboard.

PCDIVA...thanks for the info. and the welcome. Yeah, that's what it's called. I remember now.

Man am I getting an education on Kentucky. Never been there. The closest that I have been to Kentucky.....is my local Kentucky Fried Chicken (LoL).

Has anyone actually purchased the Mutton Glutton ticket?  It's $50, so I was wondering if it was worth it.  TIA.

Fifty bucks, and the food is gone in thirty minutes?  Al Bowen, Buffetbuster, Cousin Johnny and ChiTownDiner combined couldn't eat $50 worth of mutton in a half hour.

emilyw, hope you have a great time, and good weather.  I was there in 2006, and it happened to be a very damp, drizzly day, and windless.  That combination along with the many, many grills going made it, for me, hard to take a clean breath and very stinky.  Plus I smelled like burning charcoal for the rest of the day.
 
But I saw another year on a food channel show, and the weather looked perfect, entirely different.
 
There are many booths with food for sale, and people grilling everywhere, but very few offer any places to sit down.  We went to one of the church stands that bragged about being # 1 and ordered a couple sandwiches.  We saw the people grilling right there, and so we expected something at least warm.  But the girl pulled our sandwiches from a cooler, and they were both cold.  Not room or ambient temperature, but cold.  So there we were, in the rain, standing, eating cold sandwiches, sucking in fumes with every breath......we didn't stay long.
 
I'd love to go back to Owensboro, but to try those drive-ins instead of the festival.
 
Hope you can report back on a great experience and make me want to try them again.

Our experience at the Owensboro Festival is much like that of EasyDoesIt. There was a huge crowd, less than warm food, and we were worn-out within a couple of hours. We did not buy the 'AYCE' Tickets, and were glad that we didn't.

We live just under a hundred miles from our Favorite Owensboro BBQ Store, and enjoy great BBQ there several times a year...but we will not do the Festival again.

Another Festival in the area is the W C Handy Blues and BBQ Festival in nearby Henderson, KY in Mid-June. The food competition is the first weekend of the event, while the music concerts run during the week and the second weekend.  We love the free concerts in the park and are quite happy with the quality of some of the vendors at that part of the festival. The BBQ competition , like that of Memphis and Owensboro tends to be an overcrowded madhouse. We'll pass on that part of the event and attend the more mellow activities.