Live music and the smoky smell of barbecue filled the lawn of the Greystone Mansion Saturday afternoon as vendors produced different meats for the second annual Auburn BBQ Fest.
Starting at 4 p.m., local restaurants such as Mamas Last Stand and Stinky’s Fish Camp put out their pulled pork brisket and other sides competing to win the title of best barbecue in Auburn.
Adrianna Reagan, a server with Stinky’s Fish Camp, said that the event was a great way to reach people who still don’t know about the restaurant and connect with the community.
“We’re serving up smoked brisket and Russian potato salad today, which isn’t something we would normally make,” Reagan said. “If people like it enough we will definitely make it a special. The event is great because we can test new items and get our name out there for people who don’t know us.”
Raegan said Stinky’s is a regular vendor at the mansion's food fests, and loves the opportunity to get out with other restaurants and interact with the community more.
Another regular to the food fests is Jim 'N Nick's, who decided to up the ante for this year’s BBQ Fest, provided pulled pork served from a whole roasted hog.
“Last year we had homemade sausage and pimento cheese, and pork shoulder," said Brian Benson, a Jim 'N Nick's cook." "But this year we thought it was only appropriate to bring out a whole hog.”
The barbecue franchise had to set up their rig a whole day in advance in order to properly roast the hog, Benson said.
“We thought, ‘barbecue fest? We have to do a whole hog,’ so we set up the rig yesterday,” Benson said. “We put the hog in there about 11 o’clock last night and took him out at 4, right before we got started here.”
Residents and local restaurants throughout the community attended the event to enjoy food and music together.
Restaurants from neighboring Opelika also came to participate. Joel Czerkawski, from Butcher Paper BBQ, brought their pulled pork and a medley of different sauces for attendees to sample.
“It is a great exposure for us here in Auburn because we are over in Opelika, so not as many people know us,” Czerkawaski said. “We are always experimenting with new flavors and recipes, but for the fest we try to bring out the favorites.”
The BBQ Fest is just one of several food fests that Greystone Mansion has begun to host in the last few years.
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