W C Handy Blues and BBQ Festival

FYI Folks, This coming week is the great W C HANDY BLUES & BBQ FESTIVAL in HENDERSON,Kentucky. Henderson (pop 28,000+-)sits on the banks of the Ohio River directly across from Evansville, Indiana
If you have never attended any of the events of the week-long Blues and BBQ Festival, you need to change your life and participate. It is a great (and inexpensive) way to celebrate both the food and the music. Henderson, Kentucky is a great place to visit.

Here is a link to the Festival website. We will try to make it for the Cajun Music Night, a real fun time in a city park with free music and plenty of vender-fair-food close by!

http://www.handyblues.org/

OK, I defenately need to change my life, AL cuz I've never been there or done that! But it sounds like a great time!

Thank you, Al, for giving Henderson's W. C. Handy Barbecue and Blues Festival a plug.

And folks, if you come to enjoy our town's festivities, be sure to go to the Bon Ton Mini Mart on Henderson's far southeast corner of town at the junction of U.S. 41 and 351.

As Michael Stern told the New York Times last year, the Bon Ton has "the best fried chicken in the solar system." They are open on Friday until about 7:00 p.m., Saturday until 3:00 p.m. and closed on Sundays. But they open at 4:30 in the morning. So if you make a side trip, check this place out.

Fred Sauceman went there last year and had nice things to say about it.

I bought a box of it for Al and Janet to try at the festival three years ago. Al thought it was pretty good, but it probably would have tasted even better if he had eaten it when it was piping hot and fresh right out of the deep fryer.

If you mention "Roadfood" or "Jane and Michael Stern" to the cook Donna King, or Lori Pazzelli, the waitress on weekends, they'll go out of their way for you.

Other things to try in Henderson are the barbecued beans at Thomason's Bar-B-Q on Atkinson Street. I've never found any place to top these beans. They are filled with sugared molasses.

And be sure to sample the fried chicken at Mr. D's on U.S. 60, if you're coming from the west into Henderson. For some reason, Henderson has two fried chicken restaurants that both specialize in marinated, spicy fried chicken. And both are quite different in flavor. You'll be licking the bones.

While I'm at it, I might as well mention the Bar-B-Q Barn, two blocks west of Diamond Avenue (Indiana 66) in Evansville, Indiana. Evansville is seven miles across the Ohio river from Henderson, Kentucky.

If you go to the Bar-B-Q Barn, you won't find a finer example of smoked chicken in these parts for hundreds of miles. Forget the barbecue (unless you want to sample it to completely understand that statement) and order a 1/2 smoked chicken. It is the only time I've ever entered a barbecue restaurant and found a non-barbecued item to be better than the barbecue. To be fair, though, their two barbecue sauces are pretty decent.

The Bar-B-Q Barn opens around 11 a.m. and closes at 7:00 on Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sunday and Monday.

If you want a break from the festivities in Henderson, the Bon Ton Mini Mart and the Bar-B-Q Barn are two roadfood recommendations that will be well worth the trip.

Honorable mentions: For those coming from the west, try the Feed Mill in Morganfield, Kentucky just past the eastern edge of town on U.S. 60. Specifically, try the gumbo. Really potent stuff.

I would mention Peak Bros. Bar-B-Q restaurant in Waverly (half-way between Henderson and Morganfield on U.S. 60), but they haven't rebuilt their restaurant. It burned down last November within a week after Jane and Michael Stern recommended it in Gourmet. I'm told it will be open later this year. It's truly a culinary treasure around these parts.

For those coming from the east, stop in Owensboro. The Moonlite Bar-B-Q restaurant should not be missed, but for those who want to sample something quite intoxicating to the palate, go to George's Bar-B-Q restaurant on eastbound U.S. 60 and try the burgoo. Specifically, go to the take out section around back, and ask them to draw the burgoo up from the bottom of the pot. You won't be sorry. It's simply the best burgoo I've ever eaten.

That's it from your western Kentucky correspondent.

The Bon Ton Mini Mart:
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=343

George's Bar-B-Q
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3908

Moonlite Bar-B-Q
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=321

Mr. D's
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3485

Thomason's Bar-B-Q
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3779

And for those of you who always look for a White Castle anytime you're on the road (as QFan always does), there are now WC's in both Owensboro and Evansville--depending on which direction you're coming to the Blues Festival from.

QFan
Bonita Springs, FL

It could be possible to eat your way thru the festival without hearing a 'note'! FYI, the musical groups described are roughly hour-long sets by each group playing on a good stage and using excellent sound systems in the Audabon Park along the river in Henderson. Bring lawn chairs but leave any alcohol at home as it is not allowed. There is a legal "Beer Garden" like many county fairs have in this area. There are tee-shirts and caps for sale, and a block long venders court where all kinds of fair-food and BBQ is available. We even have seen "Brain Sandwiches" listed at a couple of booths! Since the concerts are free and the music is usally great, this is worth a bit of a roadtrip . Check the schedule on the website for the groups of your choice.

Louis, You community deserves a round of applause for the efforts they put into this festival!!
AL

Thanks, Al. I'll pass the word along.

Louis

Al, if you and Janet can hang around until Saturday, I'll bomb up there in the early a.m.

Pov. Pete (and everyone)

We are planning to spend the day in the Park onSaturday the 16th. While the BBQ competition is over by then, the venders are still therre, and the music starts at noon (Central Time). We will bring lawn chairs and plan on staying til dark or so. Dogs aren't allowed in the Park , so the pooches will stay home. Let us know if you plan on showing up so we can keep an eye out for you.

AL

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

Pov. Pete (and everyone)

We are planning to spend the day in the Park on Saturday the 16th. While the BBQ competition is over by then, the venders are still therre, and the music starts at noon (Central Time). We will bring lawn chairs and plan on staying til dark or so. Dogs aren't allowed in the Park , so the pooches will stay home. Let us know if you plan on showing up so we can keep an eye out for you.

AL

I get back from Spokane on Thursday and if time allows, I certainly would enjoy the evening there. I would drive the truck with some lawn chairs and enjoy with Poverty and the Mayor.

I hope my flight does not get screwed up in Chicago as it seems to do every time I come through there.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Come on up, Paul. Saturday evening, I've decided to go to my friends pizza joint in Evansville, then spend the night thereabouts.

Sounds like a plan. Blues and Pizza and Fair Food makes for a good day I think !

Bushie has been to this pizza place, and I think Paul was with us that day, also. He makes an excellent pizza.

The name of that pizza place is Turoni's on North Main Street in Evansville. They have a microbrewery and put out a good product.

That's where we're headed, all right. Louis, you want to join us for pizza and a beer?

Sure. I might be able to make that. Give me a time to be there on Saturday.

OK the next appearance of information about this Festival will be a Trip Report in the new forum.
Poverty Pete will join us, Paul is stranded in Washington State so he will not be there, and Louis will make the connection in either Henderson at the Concert in the Park, or in Evansville for the Pizza and Beer Supper Saturday evening. We are thinking of finally stopping in Cannelton at the Wall Drive-In (reviewed on this site) that we pass on every trip to the Moonlite BBQ. We also hope to find one of the Brain Sandwiches that Alton Brown sampled while in Henderson .
Looks like Friday nite and all day Saturday will be devoted to chasing down Roadfood trip info !!

I just went on Priceline and paid more than was necessary for a room for two nights at the Evansville Plaza Inn, up near the airport on 41. More exciting news to follow!

Based on the info-filters.... We will get a Milk Shake at the walls Drive-in by the Bridge in Cannelton,IN. Louis say the Cinnamon Shakes are worth the stop. Then it is on to Owensboro, but for the first time we will be heading for BBQ somewhere other than the Moonlite BBQ. Following an early lunch it will be the short ride over to the Park in henderson to R&R a bit and listen to some of the Blues Groups for the afternoon.

Then recross the River into Evansville for Pizza and Beer for Supper. E-ville is just 90 freeway minutes from home, so the ride after supper won't be all that long. While it is a relatively short 'RoadTrip', it qualifies and will be reported and recorded as such shortly.

I am sorry that I am going to miss this great event. I am stuck in Spokane which is a nice city but I would rather be with my friends, good music and BBQ.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Every year I travel to Evansville for an oil and gas advertising show, and every year we end up in Henderson for some great BBQ and catfish...one if the places is one the main street in a brown wooden building...just can't think of the name of it...but good food.
Terry

Terry
I think you are referring to Thomasons that Louis mentions in his list above. Pretty good food !

We are looking forward to a good ride tomorrow.

I'm not sure that it's Thomason's. Thomason's is on a narrow street (Atkinson Street) on the far west end of town, a mile or so from any of Henderson's main streets.

I think he's thinking of Ralph's Bar-B-Q on Green Steet (US.41-A/U.S. 60). I won't recommend it, but there are people who like it. To each his own. Ralph's is better known locally for its breakfasts than its barbecue.