Bangalow was again the ‘meating’ place of the North Coast last weekend with the BBQ and Bluegrass festival completing a third successful year.
Once again, you needed to arrive early if you wanted to taste the smokiest, slow-cooked pork, beef and chicken, as these delicious morsels are apt to be consumed by the enthusiastic crowd before the banjos have twanged thrice on the Bluegrass stage.
The American barbecue tradition is all about slow-cooked food, so competitors set up their cookers the day before the festival and set the temperature dials to low and slow, with a $1500 prize for the Bangalow Grand Champion in their sights.
In the end, it was Shank Brothers BBQ who just pipped Double Barrel BBQ for the prize. An additional $4,500 worth of prizes were given away, with remaining proceeds from the Festival going to local schools, arts and cultural initiatives.
Some of the prizes went to entrants in the Pickers Comp, rewarding musical skills (not horticultural skills – this is Bangalow not Nimbin) on the banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle.
Emmy-Lou Amethyst shows how to rock those nightmare catcher earings.
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