Another ‘Winning Team,’ members of the Duvall Rotary Club who helped organize and manage the ‘Duvall Heat’ event: (L-R) Mary Lou Dreher; Caron Nelson-Glickman; Danny Edwards; Ward Roney; Kerry Minietta; and Peggy Kahler with her dog Max. For some, barbecue is just a family treat on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. For others, it represents a competitive sport and a chance to win big on behalf of charity.

The Evergreen State Barbecue Championship was held in Duvall last month. Despite a little drizzle and cloudy weather, droves of people turned out to see what all the buzz was about.

Everyone seemed to take the weather in stride, knowing that our region is ‘not the most reliable’ when it comes to scheduling an outdoor barbecue.

“The worst thing (weather-wise) for a barbecue event is the wind,” said Christene James of Edmonds, whose husband, Anthony, is the president of the Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association (PNWBA), one of the sponsors of the event. “Cooking out in the elements is part of the sport.”

(L-R) Roger Jones, manager of Safeway, co-chaired the event. Pictured here with assistant store manager and the Rancher’s Reserve Team. The pair was pleased with the turnout and said that Safeway and Rancher’s Reserve (also sponsors of the event) had been “awesome” and “very supportive.”

The event was made possible by a team of three entities: the PNWBA, Safeway and the Rotary Club of Duvall.

There were a few challenges but event organizers and volunteers stayed positive.

“One of the challenges is that there are always so many events in Washington on weekends,” said Mary Lou Dreher, a member of the Rotary Club who helped organize the vendors for the event. “I’m pleased with how many vendors wanted to come.”

PNWBA President, Anthony James, was pit master of a booth with wife, Christene. She thought that perhaps the rain had deterred some people from coming out to the event.

Danny Edwards said that the event was “a blast” as well as “a learning experience.”

Edwards echoed the sentiments of fellow Rotarians, event co-chairs, Roger Jones and Caron Nelson-Glickman, who said that the event would need better marketing and publicity in the future to help attract more people.

Another Rotarian, Kelly Minietta, was one of the original minds behind the barbecue contest coming to Duvall. He agreed with Edwards about the need for better publicity, and added that there needed to be some adjustments in the layout. He felt that the beer and wine garden could have been located closer to the food vendor area and that it needed stronger signage.

Jones and co-chair, Nelson-Glickman, said that, for a first-time event, things were going very well.Competitors camped out and made the best of the weather. Photo by Anne Laughlin

Safeway donated the meat for the sampling event and six vendors worked through the night to prepare samples for the public the next day. The event raised $5,200 for Safeway’s charity of the month, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Jones added that the amount would be leveraged by Safeway two to three times over.

Event-goers, competitors, vendors and organizers all seemed eager to repeat ‘Duvall Heat’ next summer.