Pork in the Park 2012 Day 1 Video The Midway

Pork in the Park is actually 2 large events in one. There’s the KCBS sanctioned barbecue competition, and then there’s the large, family oriented Midway area. It’s almost like a State Fair, in that there are tons of food vendors, craft tables and booths, games of chance and rides for kids, and a center stage with live entertainment playing all day and evening.

I arrived just as they finished cutting the ribbon for the opening ceremony. Folks started pouring in almost immediately. You’ll see in the video below, I took a quick stroll around the Midway, meeting up with our friends Todd and Jo Dooms of Doomers Q Sauce (I bought 4 bottles), and John Layton of Red Brothers BBQ Sauce.

After entering the competition area, all of the teams and competitors were in the Judges tent for their final meeting and instructions. I didn’t think a bunch of pics of empty booths would be much fun to look at, so I hung out with Huck Sr of HucksHut.com while charging my iPhone and working on the video you see here.

A big surprise to many, was that BBQ Pitmasters were on site to film an episode of the wildly successful Discovery/TLC show!

Darkness came pretty quick, the crowds at the Midway were heavy and having fun. Stay tuned for more pictures from Day 2.