{"id":6551,"date":"2010-05-05T13:36:33","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T18:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=6551"},"modified":"2010-05-05T13:36:33","modified_gmt":"2010-05-05T18:36:33","slug":"cheers-to-our-sponsors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/05\/cheers-to-our-sponsors\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheers to our sponsors"},"content":{"rendered":"

I plan to do a longer post explaining what Memphis in May BBQ Fest is all about, how I came to be on a team, what I do on the team, etc., as soon as I find time to type it. Right now, though, I want to take a minute to say “cheers” to the sponsors of our team The Ques Brothers<\/a>. We have a really, really, super cool new sponsor this year and I’m excited beyond belief. I’ll tell you who it is in a minute. I’ll give you a hint – in a sense, you’re looking at it right now. And no, it isn’t me or one of my websites.<\/p>\n

First, though, I want to say “thanks” to our returning sponsor, Circa by John Bragg<\/a>. Circa is back with us for our third year. They’ve been a great help, having provided beer, tables, cups, napkins, a distribution point for membership packets, and lots more in the years they’ve been a sponsor. Plus, their food is pretty darn good. Check out the menu on their website if you’ve never eaten there. Insider’s tip: That new halibut dish that they just added is amazing.<\/p>\n

Another returning sponsor is Holliday Flowers<\/a>.\u00a0 When we got to our booth space the Sunday before BBQ Fest last year, it was a muddy, smelly pit.\u00a0 In three days, Brent from Holliday built a structure that looked like a posh nightclub.\u00a0 We had wood bars, bench seating, a facade that looked like a cliff on Easter Island… we had it all.\u00a0 He’s back this year and I can’t wait to see what he has in mind.\u00a0 If you need an event planned or decorated, you really need to give them a call.<\/p>\n

All right… now for the announcement of the new sponsor… as I said, in a sense, you’re looking at it right now… because it’s the engine I use to publish my blog. That’s right, WordPress<\/a><\/strong> is our newest sponsor. If you want to get technical, WordPress is an open-source project found at wordpress.org. WordPress.com<\/em> is the commercial arm, and that’s who is sponsoring us.<\/p>\n

I wish I could take credit for the sponsorship, but I can’t… team member Otto<\/a> wrote a significant amount of code for the current version, and for the upcoming beta versions. The head guy, Matt Mullenweg, was in Memphis recently, and Otto had lunch with him. Matt’s a huge BBQ fan, so Otto contacted him and asked if he’d like to sponsor a team.\u00a0 I hope I get to meet Matt in person this weekend.<\/p>\n

Looking forward to a great BBQ Fest with our sponsors… and even more than that, I’m looking forward to Friday at 5 PM, when my week vacation starts.<\/p>\n

I still have 10 minutes left in my lunch break – they expanded us to an hour.\u00a0 Guess I’ll see how much news I can type up before my break is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"