Sweet heat: Barbecue enthusiasts gather in Generations Park
Aug. 7—Generations Park had an abundance of traffic, music and free, hot food Saturday, as the host site of the BBQ & Sweet Tea Festival, a creation of Antonio Jones, largely known for his work in real estate and as an entertainer.
Teams winning top honors were Smart Safe (first in ribs) and Tru-Mac (first in Boston butts), and sampling their creations was a crowd that Jones estimated at more than 1,200. The Smart Safe crew also won the "People's Choice" award, as most popular among general public at the event.
Jones, an agent with Realty One Group Visionaries, got a soundtrack by way of Wayne Preston and David Weston, the musical duo largely known as Preston and Weston, and a variety of vendors also took part, offering such possibilities as frozen treats, COVID-19 vaccinations, gutter guards and cell-phone service.
"I really came up with the idea ... last summer — just trying to figure out something I could get behind," Jones said. "I've been doing parties and different events and things of that sort for the last maybe 10 years or so."
The idea was "almost like a no-brainer when it came to barbecue," he said, acknowledging his own fondness for exercising creativity with a grill at any hour of the day. "I had to pair the barbecue with something ... and for me, it was just barbecue and sweet tea. Those are the two things that kind of go hand in hand with each other."
Also playing a role in the project's development, he said, was the fact that his fiancé, Kristian Banks, is also highly fond of sweet tea, as did the fact that Jones' family had a tradition, for years, of Sunday cookouts.
"The turnout was way bigger than what we thought it was going to be," said North Augusta businessman Matt Smart, the founder of the Smart Safe team. "We cooked five butts and 10 racks of ribs. Atomic City cooked, I think, four butts and six or eight racks of ribs. They also cooked a full brisket and, I don't know, 10-12 pounds of chicken wings, which were not even on the menu, and we gave it all away."
He added, "We had a blast. We absolutely had a blast."
Other competitors in Saturday's ribs category, in order of their votes, were Tru-Mac, Atomic City Smokers and the Jones Boys, in that order. Atomic City Smokers came in second in Boston butts, followed by Smart Safe.
Aiken-area barbecue buffs have a few options to consider in the next few months, in terms of events within a relatively short driving distance. The first, the Sassafras Festival, is set for Oct. 1 in Burnettown. Another, set for Oct. 8, is the Ridge Spring Harvest Festival. Hook and Cook, in Jackson, is to be Oct. 22. Barbecue, Blues & Boos is set for Oct. 29 in Barnwell.
Enthusiasts from around the state are on track to gather this month, with the South Carolina Barbeque Association having its annual meeting Aug. 20, in Columbia.
