“The Moody Ques are competing in Best Microwave Popcorn this year.”
“Best Booth? So you guys are a decorating team competing in a cooking contest?”
“There are 55 teams competing in Shoulder this year, so somehow the Moody Ques will find a way to finish 56th.”
Those are some of the jokes that have been hurled our way since the Moody Ques formed in 2012. We’ve won non-cooking awards at BBQ Fest, and we’ve won cooking awards at regionals, but up until this year a BBQ Fest cooking trophy has eluded us. Something always seemed to come up and trash our score – cooker not holding temperature, ash not being properly cleaned out. Even something as picky as a serving table not being the right size could cost us points on presentation. We had to look all the way back to 2008, when our predecessor team the Ques Brothers took 3rd in Shoulder, to remember what a BBQ Fest cooking trophy looked like.
About 4:30 yesterday I was standing in our booth when I heard our treasurer Misty scream. A BBQ Fest ambassador had just handed her a letter saying we need to be at the awards ceremony at 6:30, because we were going to receive a trophy. The drought had come to an end!
We threw beer and Jello shots in our cart and headed to the stage. They started the Shoulder awards at number 10. Every time they announced a team and it wasn’t us, we cheered. Movin’ on up like George Jefferson!
Finally it was time for Ron Childers to call our name. “In seventh place in the Shoulder division, The Moody Ques!”
I am so excited. We have finally come up with a winning recipe. When I say that, I don’t mean just the meat. I mean, the overall organization of the team. We had no problem recruiting members, plus we had great sponsors and a lead on another one for 2019. Our T-shirts were on point. We had great music and a great bartender. There was no drama in the booth at all, highly unusual for any BBQ team. Our booth was packed on Thursday and Friday night. People were raving about the food, especially the smoked ham that was served for dinner Friday.
Congratulations to all my teammates on a strong year. I can’t wait for 2019.
Sorry the blog has been lacking in posts this week. I’m just dead tired. I’ll pick it back up the next day or two.