Antique cars and trucks could be seen gleaming in the springtime sun in the 200 block of South Main.

Nighthawk Band went on stage just south of the Depot and Visitor’s Center, playing some crowd-pleasing R&B.  After them came a magical interlude featuring the sly tricks and steady patter of Randall Eller.

Toward lunchtime, the smell of barbecue ribs billowed out, a sure sign the 13th Annual contest was getting underway.  This web site’s able crew provided hot dogs grilled just the way they are most liked.  Just as they ran out of dogs, Heather Linn & Jace Bryant took the stage with a kind of folky, soulful jazz consoling anyone who missed out.  

Then the virtuosic Roger Delano Band played several country-rock favorites, from Lynyrd Skynyrd covers to Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” as an inspiringly nonconformist closer.  

To top things off, the winners of the Rib Cook-off were announced by Summer Chambers Hope Parks Superintendent.  Taking first place was Matt Dyer, who said his barbecuing was a means of self-amusement that he’d been involved in competitively for about three years.  “I just cook and have fun,” he said.

Second place went to Backyard Barbecue and third, to the Williamsons.

Below are just a few of the pictures we shot on the scene.