The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Presented by Oklahoma Central Credit Union and friends of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. It's one of Oklahoma's most popular competitions, with a Grand Champion selected to represent the state in the National Championship Cook-off in October at the American Royal in Kansas City. We will be awarding over $10,000 in prize money to a field of 70+ BBQ teams. The Art of Barbeque is celebrating its 13th year supporting the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa. Our event features a world-class barbeque cook-off contest, officially sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), great musical entertainment, activities for the kids, plus all the food and beverage you care to enjoy. We hope you'll be a part of the excitement! More importantly, though, the Art of Barbeque helps support the important mission of the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa to bring the arts to Tulsa youth. Funds from the event underwrite ambitious efforts such as the Artists-in-the-Schools program, which gives K-12 kids a hands-on opportunity to participate in the arts right in the classroom. In an age of strained school budgets, it may be the only arts education many children receive. And federal-level studies clearly show its importance in terms of improved overall academic achievement and reduced rates of high-risk behavior. Please find the enclosed BBQ Team Entry form. We're offering a $25 early bird discount if your entry is received prior to May 15, 2010. We have room for 12 RV's and 75 cook sites. Along with the entry form you will find a list of event details. See you in September for the 13th Annual event!

The event is going to be better than ever. 

We have a massive amount of room around Driller's stadium.
 
There will be a large People's Choice area, so when you buy a taster kit you need only visit the teams in the People's Choice section. 

Drillers Stadium will be open with their concessions, facilities, and playground & expanded kids area available.
 
Within the stadium there will be a stage with incredible entertainment both Friday & Saturday night.  You will be able to sit on the lawn or in the concession area.   

It will be September, so you won't sweat through your clothes.

Blue Dome will provide an arts festival connected to the event with more music and vendors.

We've got a ton of parking available to the public.

www.tulsaartofbbq.com

I'm pumped!

I'll be posting a 3D "walk through" of the event as soon as all of the site details are complete.

Let me know if anyone is interested in additional sponsorship opportunities.

booze, bbq and an unrestricted access/overnight event within 1500 ft of both the daycenter and pioneer plaza?
it might get interesting around 3:00 AM...

seriously, will it be fenced?
i always liked the fact that the royal is fenced...

It sounds like this will be a great party. The location looks interesting as well.

But why did they pick a date just a few days after the other big downtown BBQ festival (BOK Center Rock N Rib Festival September 16-19)?

Yes, it will be fenced and there will be plenty of security.

The Rock N Rib Festival is not a competition.  It's a small group of mostly restaurant based venders organized by The RibCrib promoting their product.  The RibCrib recently created their own competition team, mounting one of their electric restaurant smokers on the back of a flat-bed trailer. 

AOB is a 13 year old KCBS sanctioned event where teams compete for $10,000 and garner points, awards, and rankings.  All proceeds benefit The Tulsa Arts & Humanities Council.

BBQ Competitions follow a strict schedule, culminating in the American Royal in Kansas City.  Our festival is the week before, and teams from around the United States will be headed towards this part of the country to end their season at the Royal.  We are now the final stepping stone for many of the worlds best BBQ teams.  Tulsa is their last chance to gain points and prize money before they finish their season at the Royal.

The quality of the Q at the AOB is on a completely different level than restaurant fare.

Saturday night music? Really?

and, "boo, hiss!" to no new logo...

This is part of why I planned my trip to Tulsa to see family and friends. Maybe I'll see some of the TN people there. It'll probably be easy to spot me, BBQ in one hand trying a Marshall's in the other, and wearing a Diamondbacks jersey.

Same weekend as MS-150 so I won't be there, I will be pissing Rwarn off by engaging in risky behavior peddaling down Route 66 to OKC to benefit the MS Society.  You can come see us off around 7am at the Crowne Plaza ;)

The idea is to stretch out the entertainment as long as possible to tie into the other entertainment and offerings available with the Blue Dome thing. Since we have so much more room, the entertainment is not going to interfere with anything else.

There's a new logo, it's just not done yet.

Stop by 3 Guys tent and I'll trade you an Old English for your Marshall's.
We have a strange tradition of drinking Old English during competitions.  It keeps people from swiping beer from your cooler.

Only if it's a 40 in a brown paper bag.

I will try and make it. Hopefully friends don't have too wild a time planned for Friday night.

Reminder:
Early bird registration for teams ends today.  If you want to compete, register today to save $25. 
We already have over 40 teams and spaces are going fast!

www.tulsaartofbbq.com

OK, a rash of reservations today. . . 40' x 40 spots are full and large RV spots are filled too.  We only have a handful of  20' x 40' spaces left, so if you or your company wants to participate you need to get registered now. 

 ;D

Cross your fingers for good weather, cause we have a crowd this year!

If this was the "Math of BBQ," then the prime spaces would be 19 x 37




I'll quit now...

Or maybe 17 x 41   ;D

Exactly.

We're all set, I hope everyone will stop by on Saturday! 
55 teams confirmed.
30 People's Choice teams (you can eat their food).
Entertainment Friday starting at 5:00 PM and all day Saturday.

We were able to get some of the major competitive teams that have never come to Tulsa before, so there will be some really great food and stiff competition.

If you have a great time and like OUR food, we are getting ready to start a new series of BBQ 101-106 courses at the new Sage Culinary School.  The first class starts on October 7th.

I hope to see everyone at the AOB this weekend.  Celebrating 13 years of great Q!

www.tulsaartofbbq.com

Friday night Midlife Crisis and others.

Saturday almost 2,000 lbs of brisket will be cooked for the public, if you buy a taster kit.

I estimate over 4,000,000 individual beans will be baked.

 :o

Just curious, how many lbs of brisket will be cooked if I don't buy a taster kit?    ;D

1,999

Just came from the site.  They are closing the streets and pulling electrical.  Be back at 6:30 am to set up.

Watch Channel 6 in the morning for an exclusive interview with 3 Guys Smokin' including some BBQ tips and information on this weekend's event.


(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3441891227_7b3bfd344c_o.png)

Come out and see us!

so i didn't go to this last year but went the year before that when a drink came with my kit.  this year i get a kit but the ticket that said "good for one frre drink" was not, it was a voting ticket.  and no way in hell i'm going to give $3 for bottled water in the stadium.  this served to greatly mar an othrwise enjoyable day and location.  seriously veven some of the bbqbooths were confused.  this really needs to get clarified so next year i can plan ahead.

Yeah, I think they ordered the tickets at the last moment.  Next year will be far more organized.  We were dealing with a new venue and some serious temporal obstacles.  We've gotten tons of feedback from the teams and the public.  The weather couldn't have been any better.  We realize we need to expand the bathroom options next year also.

The Drillers did a great job of taking care of all of the concessions, but I agree their should be some additional options. 

There were several $100k rigs this year, but Jon Russel's Que Crew won Grand Champion towing their little black smoker behind their pickup truck.  I stayed up all night tending the fire and talking with Jon and Russ, and after tasting some of their stuff early in the morning, I had a feeling they were going to walk off with some cash!

Just goes to show, it's not the size of the smoker, but what's in it that counts!

   

I got there later than planned (about 1:30) and several teams were already out, but the BBQ I had was fantastic.  Several teams' brisket was hands down the best brisket I've ever had.

The drink thing wasn't a big deal to me - I just headed up to the McNellies beer festival and took care of my thirst (and then some).