Page 36 2013 Art & Balloon Festival, August 30, 2013
Special edition of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
'Up in Smoke'
biggest and best
yet in its 3rd year
For Chris Graue and the
hardworking committee behind
the scenes of the “Up in Smoke
on the Square” Kansas City
Barbeque Society competition,
the success of the event may be
a bit overwhelming at times, but
it should come as no surprise
considering the work they put into
it each year.
In its third year, Graue recently re-
ported that the number of competi-
tors for the sanctioned event is once
again growing, with the expectation
of more than 50 entrants for this
year
Last fall, after the dust had settled a
bit, Graue spent some time talking
about the event and how it came to
be a vital part of the annual Lincoln
Art & Balloon Festival.
The event started taking shape in
2009 as a group of guys just talking
about how they could do something
in the community, and it evolved
from there. Graue said they wanted
to bring KCBS to Lincoln, but they
weren’t exactly prepared for what
it would involve. They began by
setting a goal of having the first
competition in 2010. However, it
ended up taking a little longer to get
everything set up, so the event actu-
ally debuted in 2011.
Graue said they began by soliciting
the help of a friend from Mason
City, John Laughlin. Laughlin came
to their meetings as
someone who was in
the know about the
KCBS competition and
offered guidance on
what they could and
couldn’t do.
In the early stages of
planning, the committee thought
the competitors could not only
prepare food for judging but also
sell samples to the public. Laughlin
told them that would never be al-
lowed, so the group went a different
direction.
“We decided we didn’t want to
take away from local businesses by
bringing in vendors, but again, John
told us that was not a good idea,”
Graue said.
McLaughlin said people would
smell the food, watch the compe-
tition and want to eat, so it was
decided barbecue vendors would be
needed.
Graue explained that in the KCBS
events, that organization will pro-
vide about half of the judges. The
other half can be local folks, but
they have to have gone through a
training for judges. Graue said that
when the committee had the train-
ing in early 2011, there was a great
turnout of folks who wanted to
participate, so they ended up with a
nice pool of local judges.
Graue talked about the KCBS call-
ing the organization the NASCAR
of barbecue. The group comes into
Lincoln with its judges and officials.
They run the competition, score
and oversee the judging of entries.
KCBS provides the meat inspectors
and has representatives who walk
about observing the competition as
it is underway.
For the judges, Graue said they love
the Lincoln event for a few very
good reasons. Thanks to LifePointe
Church, at the corner of Pulaski
and McLean streets, the judges
have a great place to do their work.
Graue said they enjoy being inside
a temperature-controlled location
with good lighting. The out-of-town
judges have also expressed that they
enjoy the fact that the competition
takes place during the festival. It
offers them the opportunity to see
and do other things along with their
task of judging.
For the competitors, having the
event KCBS-sanctioned makes
it more attractive because the
points they earn in the Lincoln
competition are added to their
2012 grand champion:
B and B BBQ and Catering
