Santini cooks with “Smokin’ in the Mangroves”
Officials from Santini Marina Plaza are organizing an Island Amateur Bar-B-Que Competition, an Old Fashioned Street Market & Bake Sale as well as a Backyard BBQ Cooking School on Saturday, June 18.
“Smokin’ in the Mangroves” runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Skeeterland Bluegrass Band will be providing the entertainment.
According to event organizer Bonnie Roberts, 20 of the best local backyard barbeque teams will be cooking on site and competing for cash prizes and trophies. Local backyard teams will be competing head-to-head with the pros including Texas Tony’s BBQ Shack.
BBQ entrants will set up on Friday, June 17, from noon to 5 p.m., with a mandatory chef’s meeting and inspections of product at 6. Many of the entrants will be ‘camping out’ right at their site as they ‘smoke’ through the night.
There are still spots available for the competition. Entry forms may be acquired by emailing Roberts at bonnie@thefishtalemarina.com or at the Fish Tale Marina office.
“Things are zooming towards ‘Smokin’. The response has been awesome. I am very impressed with the Bar-B-Que teams so far,” said Roberts. “Most are members of the Florida Bar-B-Que Association, and they travel all over Florida and Georgia to join in on these competitions.”
During the event, celebrity judges will determine winners in the chicken (11 a.m.), ribs (noon) and pork divisions (1 p.m.) Trophies will be awarded for first, second and third place in all divisions as well a Grand Reserve award for first place overall and a Reserve award for second place overall. The People’s Choice award will be awarded at 2 p.m.
“The grand prize overall (Grand Reserve) and second place overall (Reserve) and also the most coveted People’s Choice award will be presented as the finale to a fun day at the marina,” said Roberts.
Regarding the bake sale, that portion of the event is open to all non-profit groups on Fort Myers Beach. The street vendor theme is an ‘old fashioned market’ with many artisans demonstrating their arts and crafts on site.
Those interested can reach Roberts for vendor applications, bake sale team applications and questions.
The Backyard BBQ Cooking School will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each hour has two different topics lasting 40 minutes, a 10-minute temperature control period and, at the end, students will enjoy a full BBQ lunch. Cost of the class with BBQ lunch included is $65. For information and to sign up, email Emmitt at info@backyardbbqschool.com or call him at 822-1088.
Roberts said several members of the Florida Bar-B-Que Association will be “taking a detour from competing to head for Joplin. Miss. to cook BBQ at the Red Cross shelters” after the Beach competition.
“Response from the vendors for the street market has, again, been overwhelming,” said Roberts. “We have a quite a lineup of vendors with lots of new and different participants. If you have the world’s best BBQ rub or sauce and would like to vend at the event, just let me know.”