Congrats to Gastown BBQ for another great festival GLV
PR – Who doesn’t love the smell of barbecues sizzle on a hot summer day?! This past Labour Day weekend Vancouver was blessed with great sunshine that seemed to part clouds just for Gastown’s second annual BBQ & Chili Festival sponsored by Shock Top held on Carrall Street between Cordova and Powell. Thousands of people got a chance to enjoy the hospitality and food supplied by a dozen local Gastown eateries while raising money and awareness for underprivileged children in sports with Athletics 4 Kids (A4K.ca).
Highlights of the weekends events include a pig roast by Pekinpah restaurant. The wafting smoke attracted long lines but the tender pork and especially the pepper-infused bourbon sauce made waiting worthwhile. Another feature was new kid on the block, TUC Craft Kitchen with their wild boar chili and cherry soda brisket, which happened to win Best Chili AND Grand Champion of the entire festival! Other winners include Hastings Warehouse for Best Wings, Blarney Stone for Best Brisket and the Lamplighter Pub for Best Ribs. On a special note, who knew that corn on the cob could be so good? Bismarck (opening soon in the old Pivo location) apparently did and the judges as well as the public agreed!
A cacophony of celebrity judges enjoyed fun in the sun on the Blarney Stone patio which included Chef David Hawksworth, Chef Vikram Vij, olympian Georgia Simmerling, Canucks’ Jason Garrison, BC Lions teammates Angus Reid and Matthew Norman. Matthew also came in second in the Frank’s Red hot Sauce Wing Eating Competition, won by Charles McCreath. They were joined by the weekends emcees, Dawn Chubai of Breakfast Television and media hound Joe Leary who cheered on competitors, excited crowds and enhanced the entire weekend.
Music played a huge part in the weekend’s festivities which included the bands Mostly Marley, The Sheets, The Usual Suspects and topped off by EastVan’s most up and coming band, The Boom Booms. The Blarney Stone’s 4th annual Labour Day Luau on Sunday night closed the weekend saw the announcement of winners by host Todd Brisbin of the Blarney Stone and topped off with hoards of merrymakers enjoying great drinks and even greater music by The Boom Booms.
With all the excitement done and the clouds returning, this Labour Day Weekend can be called a success, but not rightly so without acknowledging all the support and sponsorship by a great number of businesses and people: the event producers, Gastown BIA, staff & management of the Blarney Stone (Eddie, Marv, Charlie, Nick, Todd and others), all the participants (Cork & Fin, Hastings Warehouse, Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar, Bismarck, TUC Craft Kitchen, Steamworks Brewing Co., The Blarney Stone, Deacon’s Corner, The Charles Bar, The Lamplighter Pub, Pekinpah and Whet), Craft Beer suppliers (Parallel 49, Drftwood, Whistler, Steamworks, Hoyne, R&B, Shocktop, Russell, and Stanley Park), sponsors (Shock Top, Blarney Stone, Cattlemen’s BBQ, French’s, Frank’s RedHot, Pepsi, Magners, Global TV, Smith Sound, the Georgia Straight and Bulleit Bourbon) the judges, and especially the staff and volunteers that cleaned, hauled, moved, swept and sweated to make the weekend as fun as possible.
