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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Smithfield Foods Selects Pork In The Park For National Rib Competition


BBQ Festival Selected Amongst Top Three Nationwide

(Salisbury, MD)
The Pork in the Park BBQ Festival, sponsored by Wicomico County Recreation, Parks & Tourism, has been selected by Smithfield Foods to host the Smithfield Rib Shootout. To launch their new barbeque competition, Smithfield approached the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) and requested the top festivals in their major markets. Pork in the Park was amongst the top three in the nation and the only festival in the state of Maryland selected for this opportunity.

Pork in the Park will be the first barbeque festival to hold this new event. Hosting the Smithfield Rib Shootout will put Pork in the Park in the national spotlight, providing the festival with over 50 million traditional and social media impressions through local and national public relations efforts revolving around the event. Pork in the Park will also receive additional exposure on the barbeque circuit as KCBS competitors across the country will be notified of the event. In addition, Smithfield will provide additional prize money for the Grand Champion, Reserve Grand Champion and third place category winners at Pork in the Park.

Since its first year in 2003, the Pork in the Park BBQ Festival has grown in leaps and bounds with the support of the community, local businesses and sponsors. Now in its ninth year, the festival is recognized as the largest BBQ festival on the East Coast and second largest in the country. Recent events have attracted over 140 competitor teams and festival attendance exceeding 35,000. The Smithfield Rib Shootout is just one of the exciting new events Wicomico Tourism will to bring to Pork in the Park 2012.

The Pork in the Park BBQ Festival is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society and presented by Gateway Subaru. This year’s festival will take place April 20-22 at WinterPlace Park in Salisbury. For more information about Pork in the Park, visit www.PorkinthePark.org. To learn more about Wicomico County Tourism and their other special events, visit www.WicomicoTourism.org.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sandy..I know that you had something to do with this..you are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! There was no Wicomico Tourism before you came along and Wicomico Loves you for it!!!!

Anonymous said...

I don"t like pork in the park.I think They should let the people sample the food. Not have to spend a a ton of money on a crapy vender.

Bullard Construction said...

I think if all would sell $1 samples I would rather sample everyone instead of committing my entire lunch meal to one vendor. They all do such different things with their BBQ, I'd love to shop there all day! I would probably spend $20 on food instead of $8.
Good idea, 4:11!

Bullard Construction said...

In fact, I'll go a step further with my comment. To the vendors: No, I don't want fries with that. I can get fries all day long anywhere, and they all taste the same and fill me up. I want to sample your BBQ talent. A bite or two is fine. If you would like to include a dollop of cole slaw or a roll as a palate cleanser between samples, ok, but just remember, I have brought money and will stop spending it on food when I get a full belly, then I'll likely leave! If there are 140 flavors to choose from, at 4! each, I'll go till I can't any more. If I'm limited to having yo decide on one vendors' platter, I'm done at ten twelve bucks or so. Think about that for a while!
So, just think; no buns, no fryolator, less packaging, $1 from 20 folks instead of $12 from one. People hanging around longer because they're still browsing food as well as the clothing, biker, and other hard material vendors. Hanging longer to enjoy the music and bike cage show. Show mw the downside of this idea.

Anonymous said...

Um, if it's Smithfield, will the competitors be required to use the 12% solution in the meat? That makes the product taste like salt, and no meat flavor. Just askin'.

Anonymous said...

$1.00 for a sample sounds good to me. but until that happens I wont be going. I rember the first time I went there I thought you got to eat the good food or should I say sample the good food all I can say it was a big letdown.

Anonymous said...

In order to sample, competitors would have to get a license from the health department. An additional exspense when already spending hundreds if not thousands for the competition itself.