Love your BBQ? They`ll salute that!

Local
• TALK OF THE TOWNS
• ENTERTAINMENT
MONDAY
• NATION/WORLD NEWS
October 8, 2012
Northfielders call for stronger leadership model
By DAVID RAINVILLE
Recorder Staff
NORTHFIELD — With a new
college bearing down on the town,
hoping to have classes in session
two years from now, some Northfield
residents want a stronger town government to get the town ready to
face the change.
Recently, about three dozen residents came together to talk about
what it would take to bring stronger
leadership to the town. Though the
effort is just getting under way, the
topic has been a talked about for
years.
“In the last 10 years, I have been
in discussions with residents about
whether our town government could
be more responsive, more effective
and more proactive,” wrote Sam
Richardson in the mission statement for an unnamed citizens’ committee. He said the subject came
up in many social situations, but
Thursday was the first time people
organized around the issue.
Thursday night, they filled every
available seat in the Dickinson
Memorial Library’s meeting room,
and began to hash it out. A handful
of late-comers had to stand, and the
group may reserve a larger Town
Hall space for future meetings.
“No matter what happens, we
need a strong, coherent leadership
before the college comes in,” said
Dan Campbell. “Everyone needs to
be involved.”
■ Many agreed that a
town manager would assist
the Selectboard by doing
a lot of the legwork and
research, so those duties
wouldn’t fall on the
volunteer board members.
“We need to embrace the college; they’re going to be part of the
community. But we’ve got to keep
the upper hand,” he said. “It’s our
town.”
The question now is “how?”
A steering committee and two
sub-committees were formed at the
meeting. One sub-committee will
look into the possibility of having a
town manager, the other will explore
adding two members to the threeperson Selectboard.
Though the town recently
changed the administrative assistant position to a town administrator, the change was superficial.
“The position was changed to a
town administrator in name only,”
said Bonnie L’Etoile, who was on
the Selectboard that hired Tom
Hutcheson as administrative assistant, and also when a town meeting
vote changed his title.
She suggested looking into changing the position to a town manager,
or adding to the town administrator’s job description.
A subset of the Northfield
Campus Collaborative Committee,
which discusses the transition to
a college town and reports to the
Selectboard, visited Henniker, N.H.,
and Williamstown, both small towns
with colleges. They found that both
had town managers, though the job
descriptions varied a bit.
Many agreed that a town manager would assist the Selectboard
by doing a lot of the legwork and
research, so those duties wouldn’t
fall on the volunteer board members. They also felt that the town’s
departments, boards and committees could also help with that work
where it overlaps with their areas
See NORTHFIELD Page C3
Love your BBQ? They’ll salute that!
Riverside Blues and Barbecue
back ... and bigger than before
Saturday afternoon tirelessly trimming Sunday’s pork
shoulder, pounding on the
GREENFIELD
— meat with a metal tenderizer,
Amateur barbecue artists and slicing into the fat, and injectseasoned pros alike camped ing it with his special blend of
out Saturday and Sunday sauce. At midnight, he said,
for the Riverside Blues and he would toss it in the smoker
to cook for 12 to 14 hours.
Barbecue Festival.
The team, from Rockland,
A crowd of more than 500
descended on Beacon Field has been cooking togethfor the first day of the festival, er since last year, and this
which featured several blues weekend marked their 14th
bands, kids’ activities, a beer competition this year. Mike
sampling area, and, of course, MacInnis, Michael “Mauler”
food. Last year’s one-day fes- Gilpin and Minnihan have
tival went well, so organizers traveled to Maine, Connecticut, New
decided to
J e r s e y,
stretch it to ■ Barbecue is their hobby,
New York,
two days for
N
e
w
but it’s not a cheap one.
this year.
Hampshire
T h e Michael Gilpin said a
and Rhode
early birds
two-day competition like
Island,
Saturday
winding up
got to judge Greenfield’s Riverside
with sevc h i c k e n Blues can run them $1,200
eral top 10
wings from
finishes.
12 contes- in fuel, food and fees.
W h a t
tants
for
are
their
the people’s
choice award. The sampling secrets?
“Slow and low (heat),” said
started at noon, and the wings
flew right out of their serving Gilpin. “And if you’re lookin’, it
trays. No two entries were ain’t cookin’.”
Barbecue is their hobby,
alike — they ranged from
sweet to spicy, from south- but it’s not a cheap one. Gilpin
said a two-day competition
western to teriyaki.
Judges also sank their can run them $1,200 in fuel,
teeth into a pile of wings, food and fees.
Veteran BBQ team Skin
along with sausage, pizza and
dessert. Though four dishes and Bones came all the way
were judged Saturday, the from Arcadia, Fla., to comsuspense lasted all weekend, pete at several contests in
since the winners weren’t the Northeast. Cooking
announced until the end of competitively since 2003,
Rooster Roberts and son Will
the day Sunday.
A dozen teams from Roberts have a double-edged
around the country com- approach. Will staffs the
peted, many setting up camp team’s vending trailer, servFriday night so they could get ing the crowd, while Rooster
an early start on their slow- cooks for the judges.
TWC Smokers, of southern
cooked cuisine. Some brought
trailers, others RVs, and a Vermont, haven’t entered a
few brave souls pitched tents contest in years, but decided
to give it a shot. Tim Harty,
despite the variable weather.
Chris Tomberg and Wade
Though they all seemed to Kemp got their grills together
be having fun, they were hard and headed out for Greenfield
at work all weekend. Before for the weekend, unsure how
the judges put down their they’d do or what the compedessert spoons, many teams tition would be like.
had already started to prep
Why did they come?
huge slabs of pork and beef
“Why wouldn’t we?” asked
brisket.
Harty. “There’s great food,
Bill Minahan, pitmaster of great music, and great beer.”
“Cue and a Half Men,” spent
They found great compaBy DAVID RAINVILLE
Recorder Staff
Recorder/Trish Crapo
At Saturday’s Riverside Blues & Barbecue Festival on Beacon Field in Greenfield, contestants hoist beer steins filled
with water to see who can hold the stein the longest. Greenfield’s male and female winners will compete again in Boston
and, if they win there, go on to compete in Germany.
Recorder/Trish Crapo
Bill Minahan of barbecue competition team Que and a Half
Men uses a syringe to inject secret barbecue sauce into
pork during Saturday’s Riverside Blues & BBQ Festival at
Beacon Field in Greenfield.
Open house for savings
Deerfield campaign to offer energy tour on Saturday
By KATHLEEN McKIERNAN
Recorder Staff
DEERFIELD — Ten
Deerfield homes will be open
for the public on Saturday for
residents to see how their
neighbors have altered their
homes to save energy.
The neighborhood tour is
part of the Deerfield Energy
Resources
Committee’s
12/12 campaign to encourage Deerfield households to
reduce their energy use by 12
percent in the year 2012. The
energy tour is a partnership
with the larger organization,
the Northeast Sustainable
Energy Association Green
Buildings Open House, held
on the same day.
Houses that will be open on
the tour are required to have
undergone energy efficiency
changes. For instance, the
home of Energy Committee
member M.A. Swedlund will
be one of the 10 on the tour. Committee’s education camSwedlund recently installed paign. In July, the commita solar shed at her home to tee erected a large sign on
save energy and costs.
the lawn of the Tilton Public
“I’m a staunch believer in Library to track residents’
climate change. It is essen- average energy use.
tial we all
E a c h
work to start
month,
the
reducing our ■ Houses that will
Deerfield
energy use so be open on the tour
E n e r g y
we can have a
Resources
livable world,” are required to have
Committee’s
Swedlund said. undergone energy
1 2 / 1 2
On the tour,
Campaign
efficiency changes.
Swedlund said
posts
the
the committee
monthly averhopes to encourage residents age Deerfield household electo have an energy audit by tricity usage on the sign in
WMECO. During the audit, front of the Tilton Library.
WMECO may change the The sign tracks the town’s
homeowner’s incandescent commitment to reduce its
light bulbs with LED light- energy use by 20 percent over
ing, seal air leaks and edu- the next five years. It does not
cate homeowners on simple track the library’s energy use
changes they can make to or that of town buildings.
their homes.
The Energy Committee
The tour is part two hopes residents look at the
of the Deerfield Energy numbers on the library lawn
and compare the town’s average to their individual bills.
The current number of 759
kwh is for August. Residents
can look at their WMECO
bill for August and compare
whether they used more or
less energy and look for what
they can do to reduce their
electricity bills.
Already, Yankee Candle
has saved 3.5 million kwh in
the past year and a half by
changing incandescent bulbs
to LED bulbs in the village
store, Swedlund said.
To get the monthly average, the committee divides
the total amount of electricity Deerfield residents use by
the total number of Deerfield
customers. The information
is provided by WMECO.
The project focuses on
electricity savings because it
is the only data the Deerfield
See DEERFIELD Page C3
Recorder/Trish Crapo
Brynna Fahey, 3, of Deerfield plays in a pile of fresh, clean
straw during Saturday’s Riverside Blues & BBQ Festival at
Beacon Field in Greenfield.
South Deerfield Fire Dept.
to hold open house Oct. 14
will be on hand to promote
fire prevention, answer
questions and give tours
SOUTH DEERFIELD of the facility, located at
— The South Deerfield Fire 84 Greenfield Road, South
Department is inviting mem- Deerfield.
In addition, the firemen’s
bers of the community to its
association will be providstation for an open house.
The event will take place ing hot dogs and snacks and
beverages.
S u n d a y
Deerfield
from 10 a.m.
Ambulance
to 2 p.m.
■ Throughout the day,
staff
will
Throughalso
be
out the day, the fire department will
available
the
fire conduct live demonstrafor
quesdepartment tions of rescuing a pertions, and
will conduct
Deerfield
live demon- son from a smoke-filled
Police will
strations of house, and a Jaws of
be providrescuing a Life extrication using a
ing
Child
person from
ID
kits.
a
smoke- crushed motor vehicle.
Smokey
filled house,
Bear
is
and a Jaws
of Life extrication demon- expected to visit as well. Any
stration with a crushed questions, contact South
Deerfield Fire Department
motor vehicle.
Fire Department staff at 413-665-2313.
Recorder Staff
LOCAL & REGIONAL
Greenfield, Massachusetts
The Recorder Monday, October 8, 2012
C3
Northfield: Some citizens are proposing a five-member Selectboard
of focus.
This would better inform
the selectboard members,
so they could use their time
more efficiently and focus on
making decisions and enacting town policy, rather than
scrambling to get all the
information themselves.
“A selectboard can’t possibly have the breadth of
knowledge (needed to face
the town’s varied issues on its
own),” said Jed Proujansky.
He’s a member of the School
Committee, which regularly
delegates research to specialized sub-committees that
report back to the full com-
mittee to inform its decisions.
“The only way you could
have the time to do all that
research as a member of a
three-member board is if
you’re retired, or have a very
flexible work schedule,” said
Richardson.
The group also ponders
whether the role of the town’s
executive board needs to be
changed.
Many at Thursday’s meeting agreed that the town’s
Selectboard is too overburdened and lacks the authority
to take a strong leadership
role. Some think a five-member board would be able to
spread the workload and get
more accomplished, while
others think the key is to elect
stronger leaders.
There is no bylaw in
Northfield that sets its
Selectboard at three members, and some at the meeting wondered if one would
need to be created to increase
its number to five. Proposed
bylaws require a public hearing process, and once voted
in by residents, they need
to be approved by the state
attorney general’s office and
Legislature, a lengthy process.
For instance, an article
passed at the May 2011 town
meeting will eventually allow
the town to hold recall elections of town officials by petition.
The bylaw was sent to the
state Senate that July, and
was enacted by the House
of Representatives Thursday
and sent to the governor’s
desk.
The group hopes it can
elicit change in a more timely
fashion.
Sam
and
Barbara
Richardson said Thursday’s
meeting went well.
“It was productive, civil
and respectful,” said Sam
Richardson. “Several people
commented that they were
pleased that it was a very
diverse group. There were a
lot of people there who have
disagreed on other issues, all
in one room, having a good
meeting.”
Though at times some
town board and committee
meetings can become heated,
people at Thursday’s meeting put their differences aside
and rallied around a common
goal, with hope for the future
of the town. Rather than
pointing fingers at boards or
their members, the conversation stayed focused on how
they could make things better.
All residents are invited to
sign up for the committees,
participate in the discussion,
or simply attend a meeting.
As of Friday, a date for the
next meeting had not been
set, though Thursday’s contingent agreed that they need
to meet again soon so their
work can begin.
To get involved, contact
Barbara Richardson, at 413
498-5931 or brichardson0928@
comcast.net. You may also
reach out to the Steering
Committee; call Deborah
Taricano at 413 498-4483 or
email Robin McKeon at [email protected].
Deerfield: Energy tour Barbecue: Participants curious about the town
From Page C1
Energy Committee can find.
Local oil companies could not
provide numbers, Swedlund
said.
The sign builds on a commitment the town made last
year to reduce its energy usage
by 20 percent in five years as
part of its push to be recognized as a Green Community.
Part of Deerfield’s proposal to
be a Green Community was
to include a public education
program. The 12-12 campaign
serves to educate the public
on how much energy they use
and how making small changes, such as changing the type
of light bulbs they use, can
save energy.
Although the committee
is measuring electricity savings, it encourages residents
to make changes to all energy
use.
“We’re talking about electricity because it is the only
one we can track. Hopefully,
residents start looking at heating and oil bills,” Swedlund
said.
According to data pro-
Talk
From Page C2v
The
Community
Health
Information Center at Baystate
Franklin Medical Center, 164
High St., Greenfield, is a great
source for consumer health
information. Across from the
main lobby desk, the center is
open to the public for health
information and research on
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.;
Thursdays, 9 a.m. to noon, and
Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to noon. For
more information, call 7732319.
Square dance lessons:
The Monadnock Squares,
a nonprofit western square
dance club, holds weekly
square dance lessons on
Wednesday, 7 to 9 p.m., Keene
(N.H.) Recreation Center. For
more information, call Roger
at 603-352-3976 or Jim at 603355-1875.
DENNY’S
PANTRY
“A Family Restaurant”
Open 7 Days
6am-3pm
Serving Breakfast
& Lunch
Breakfast Served All Day
3229898
Take Out Available
(413)773-3345
Bernardston Rd., Greenfield
We are in no way connected to or associated
with the franchise “Denny’s”
vided by the 12/12 campaign,
low-cost ways to save energy
include taking a five-minute
or less shower to save 9,125
gallons of water per year, filling a reusable water bottle
to cut the number of plastic
bottles used, and replacing
light bulbs with an energyefficient bulb. One company
fluorescent bulb saves about
600 pounds of coal over the life
of the bulb.
The way a person gets
from one place to another
can also impact energy use.
Driving the speed limit, 55
mph, also saves 30 percent
in fuel costs compared with
driving 75 mph. Walking, biking and carpooling also saves
money.
To save energy in the
home, use a fan rather than an
air conditioner, use cold water
in the washing machine, and
seal ductwork in the forced
hot air heating system.
To volunteer your home
for the tour, contact M.A.
Swedlund at 413-774-3337.
Kathleen McKiernan can be reached at
[email protected]
or 413-772-0261, ext 268.
From Page C1
ny, too.
“Everyone here that we’ve
talked to has been willing to
share their experience — it’s
been great,” said Tomberg.
“We’ve met lots of really
friendly people here.”
In between a reporter’s
questions, Tomberg asked his
own, curious about the town
and the area.
“There’s some beautiful
architecture here,” he said,
and asked what kind of industry Greenfield had in its former years.
“And what’s that tower up
there?” he asked, pointing to
Poet’s Seat.
He said he’d like to come
back with his family in tow, to
explore the area.
Wet work
Hometown
favorites
Lefty’s Brewery and the
People’s Pint were serving up
samples in the beer tasting
section, alongside other vendors from across the country.
Lefty’s co-owner Melissa
Goldfarb’s favorite barbecue
beer?
“Our English Porter is fantastic with barbecue, pulled
pork, chicken or chili,” she
beamed.
She said the two-year-old
brewery is growing quickly,
and is currently putting out
10 different beers, from pale
ales to black-as-night stouts
and porters.
At the People’s Pint’s
booth, Woodley Wardell said
he noticed a lot of new faces.
“I’ve met a lot of people
today that just moved to
town, or came out from central Mass. today, and are out
exploring the area,” said the
brew-pub’s sales and distribution manager. Many of those
visitors will be able to find the
pint’s beers close to home;
the brewery is now shipping
beer as far east as Boston.
Though the day’s festivities ended at 5 p.m. and the
vendors packed up to come
back Sunday, the chefs
cooked on through the night,
undoubtedly wondering what
news Sunday’s results would
Recorder/Trish Crapo
At Saturday’s Riverside Blues & BBQ Festival on Beacon
Field in Greenfield, Will Roberts of Acadia, Fla. poses with
some of the many trophies won by his barbecue competition team, Florida Skin and Bones.
David Rainville can be reached at:
bring.
The festival was put on [email protected]
by the Greenfield Recreation or 413-772-0261, ext. 279
Department and sponsored
by several area businesses.
Local
• TALK OF THE TOWNS
• ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY
• NATION/WORLD NEWS
October 10, 2012
Northfield has time to get ready for college
By DAVID RAINVILLE
Recorder Staff
NORTHFIELD — As
Grand Canyon University
seeks state accreditation, the
town has a chance to prepare
for the coming of the college.
“We have some time now to
do our work (as a town) and be
prepared to enter into a serious conversation with GCU,”
said Alex Stewart, chairman
of the Northfield Campus
Collaboritive Committee.
“The time is now to present who we are, what we are,
and what we want to be (as a
town),” said Stewart.
The way the college and
the town were brought together was unique — neither one
actively sought the other out.
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., of
Oklahoma, bought the campus in 2009 with the intent
to give it to the startup C.S.
Lewis College, but those
plans fell through. The company began to search for
another recipient in January,
and settled on GCU.
“It’s kind of like an
arranged marriage,” said
Stewart. “The bride and the
groom don’t really know each
other, yet they’re expected to
enter into a permanent relationship.”
While the college seeks
state, national and regional accreditation to run a
Massachusetts campus, conversations between the town
and college have been put on
hold.
“We understand the community is anxious to know
specific plans, but we would
ask them to be patient until
the necessary approvals are
obtained,” said GCU spokesman William Jenkins. He
said GCU hopes to have
those approvals and accept
the property by the end of
the year. While GCU seeks
accreditation, said Jenkins,
“We have some time now to do our
work (as a town) and be prepared
to enter into a serious conversation
with GCU.”
Alex Stewart
chairman, Northfield Campus Collaborative Committee
it continues to evaluate the
217-acre campus’ 43 buildings, to determine what may
be usable for a possible 2014
opening.
Though GCU’s exact plans
remain a mystery, Northfield
can look to other towns with
colleges, to find out what may
be coming.
“Our town’s boards may
consider visiting towns that
have dealt with the same kind
of issues,” said Susan Ross.
“We could ask those towns’
boards what kind of issues
arose, what mistakes were
made, things like that.”
Some collaborative members already visited college
towns Henniker, N.H., and
Williamstown. Henniker is
home to about 1,747 residents as of the 2010 census,
and hosts the 1,500-student New England College.
Williamstown is home to
4,325 residents and Williams
College, with about 2,250 students.
See NORTHFIELD Page C3
Stone megaliths to be discussed Greenfield
DPW boss
in Ashfield on Saturday
search
begins
By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Recorder Staff
ASHFIELD —“Archaeologists tell us all
the (oldest) stonework in New England is
colonial,” says stonemason James Vieira
of Ashfield. “But that would be an absolute
aberration – because there is similar stonework all over the world.”
Viera and the Rev. Richard Fournier will
explore megalithic stone structures, from
local sites and from distant places, in a talk
Saturday evening in Town Hall, beginning
at 6 p.m.
The talk and PowerPoint presentation is
called “The Hidden History of Humanity,”
and it’s free .
Vieira, a stonemason for 25 years, has
drawn crowds in earlier lectures about
precolonial stone structures that show
advanced engineering and sophistication
that goes beyond the usual explanations
— that they must have been colonial root
cellars or grain storage facilities.
Vieira has been studying stone anomalies for about 20 years. He has written
feature articles for Ancient American
Magazine, and is a member of the Northeast
Antiquities Research Association.
Many of his lectures explore the mystery of the stone ruins of New England
and the mound-building culture of ancient
America and of lost civilizations.
Vieira has been presenting lectures on
pre-history stone works with the Pioneer
Valley Institute at Greenfield Community
College and Franklin Land Trust.
Fournier of Cummington is pastor of the
Mary Lyons Church in Buckland. He has
studied ancient esoteric knowledge and
spirituality for decades.
According to Vieira, the talk will present
evidence of an advanced global maritime
civilization that existed over 12,000 years
ago.
“Ancient machining, impossible megalithic construction, and advanced mathematics in deep antiquity that all point
to this culture will be explored,” he said.
“The precession of the equinoxes, the
By ANITA FRITZ
Recorder Staff
Submitted photos
Above, an equinox
stone chamber in
Goshen, Mass. Could
this be a pre-colonial
stone structure? At
right, the Walls of
Sacsayhuaman in
Peru, a pre-Columbian
megalithic structure.
26,000-year astronomical
cycle that ends on Dec
21, will be examined and
the message transmitted
through time from this
ancient civilization will be
discussed.”
Rabies caution: don’t touch dead animals
By CHRIS CURTIS
Recorder Staff
MONTAGUE — Following the
appearance of several animals
that died of unknown causes, the
town’s director of public health
would like to remind residents
not to touch dead things.
Director of Public Health
Gina McNeely said residents
have reported finding two
dead skunks and a dead fox in
recent weeks, and in light of last
December’s rabid fox attack,
cautions residents not to touch
any animals they may find.
“I think it is important to
remind people, especially parents, to educate their children
to stay away from wild animals
whether they are dead or alive,”
McNeely said. “It is always a
concern when there is a dead
animal found in a neighborhood
because of the potential for expo-
sure.”
McNeely said the state lab
policy is not to test dead animals
that have had no contact with
humans, so it is not known what
the animals died of, but she said
it is unusual to receive three
calls in the space of two weeks.
“The important thing is not to
have any contact with the fur or
saliva, because that’s where the
rabies will be,” McNeely said.
GREENFIELD —The mayor is hoping to find
someone as experienced as Sandra Shields when he
and a search committee begin interviewing for the
new head of the town’s Public Works Department.
“She is going to be hard to replace,” said Mayor
William Martin.
Shields publicly announced
this week that she is retiring
on March 1 and the town has
already begun advertising the
position with hopes that it will
find someone who will start
a few weeks before Shields
leaves.
Shields said she told the
mayor about her plans three
months ago so that he could
prepare.
She currently makes $87,842 SHIELDS
a year as public works director
and a $2,500 a year stipend as head of the town’s
Central Maintenance Department.
The new director will make between $74,400 and
$90,331 a year, depending on his or her experience,
said Dennis Helmus, the town’s human resources
director.
The town is also planning to hire a central maintenance manager, he said.
Helmus said Shields got the new department up
and running.
“It’s going to be difficult finding someone like
her,” said Helmus.
He said Shields set up a work order system for
central maintenance and worked out a system of
collaboration between that department and public
works and now, the department, which has also
been headed by Shields, is responsible for the
maintenance of 17 town and school buildings and
currently has three full-time employees.
The town would like to increase the number
of employees in that department to eight or nine,
including its manager.
Helmus said the only building that central maintenance does not maintain is the wastewater treatment plant on Deerfield Street.
Shields announced her retirement almost 40
years after coming to Greenfield. She started her
career in Greenfield working in water and wastewater treatment and became director of public
works in 2007.
The 61-year-old said she felt it is time to retire.
Shields most recently saw the town through
millions of dollars of repairs to damage caused by
a tropical storm late last August, as well as the
“greening” of Greenfield.
The greening projects included a multi-milliondollar solar farm built on the town’s capped landfill,
Rabies can transmit through
saliva to even microscopic
cuts, and animals lick their fur,
McNeely said.
McNeely advises residents
who see sick animals to call the
police, and to notify her office
at 413-863-3200, ext. 205 if they
should find them dead.
To dispose of the corpse,
McNeely advises burying it or
placing it in two trash bags for
trash pickup.
See DPW BOSS Page C3
Riverside Blues and BBQ contest results
By CHRIS CURTIS
Recorder Staff
paying to sample the meat
selected Pan 6, the work of
Rockland-based Que and a
Half Men, as the best.
GREENFIELD — The
Sunday pulled pork was in
grill and pit masters, two pet the spotlight, and voters chose
parrots and a beer tent have Pan 5, made by Holihan’s Beer
surrendered Beacon Field
Me
B.B.Q.
to its usual
of Mahopac,
occupying
N.Y.
force of young
■ The weekend’s
Kansas
athletes, but
Riverside
Blues
C i t y
not without
Barbeque
and BBQ Festival
their hardSociety judgcooked recogfeatured competitions
es
chose
nition.
S m o k i n’
for
official
grilling
T
h
e
Hoggz BBQ
and barbecue
weekend’s
of Abington
Riverside
honors and popular
as
overall
Blues
and
champion in
approval.
BBQ Festival
the barbecue
featured comcompetition,
petitions for
followed by
official grilling and barbecue Purple Pork Masters of New
honors and popular approval.
York City, and Meat @ Slim’s
Saturday’s people’s choice of Woburn.
competition featured chickIn the New England
en wings, and festival-goers Barbeque Society grilling
competition, Pork Butt &
Chicken Legs of Sterling took
top honors overall, followed by
Feeding Friendz of Deerfield,
N.H., and Sweet Breathe BBQ
of South Burlington, Vt.
Marlo Morgan, who cooked
for Pork Butt & Chicken Legs
in the grilling competition,
said the recognition felt great,
particularly after spending all
night camped out in the cold
to tend the cookers.
Alan Burke of Smokin’
Hogz said this was the team’s
first time at the two-year-old
competition, and they hope to
return.
“It’s small, it’s intimate,
the beer tent was amazing,”
he said.
You can reach Chris Curtis at:
[email protected]
or 413-772-0261, ext. 257
Roadside seating
Recorder/Paul Franz
An assortment of dilapidated chairs is available on the roadside near Millers Falls.