Chris Capell made $4,000 cooking barbecue one day on Main Street in Bel Air last year.
He won the Maryland BBQ Bash.
The fifth annual event is next weekend, and it attracts cooks from Florida to Texas to Ohio who hope to win $10,000 while helping revitalize downtown Bel Air, event Chairman Craig Ward said.
“I got into [cooking barbecue] about eight years ago, and it?s become a passion,” the ex-graphic artist said.
Ward, owner of Dizzy Pig Barbecue in Fairfax, said he is following 10 barbecue cooking competitions up and down the East Coast this year.
“[Barbecue] is like the hot new, old food,” said Carolyn Wells, executive director of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, which is sanctioning the event.
“It?s becoming very popular,” she said, adding that more than 200 towns ask the society to sanction contests each year so fairness is ensured.
If it cools down, 20,000 people could attend the event, which is free and features live music, vendors, a petting zoo and a beer and wine garden, Ward said.
The event is running further into the night this year because a heat wave, like the current one, struck it last year, withering attendance, Ward said.
“It?s on the pavement, and if it?s hot, it?s uncomfortable for the kids,” Capell said.
“But there?s stuff for them to do. It?s not as big a party as some other places. Not like Windsor, Vt. Boy, was that a wild time. ? But it?s fun. It?s a good time.”
“It?s a pretty serious group of hobbyists,” Ward said. “The barbecue is unbelievable. I mean, they cook six racks of ribs to turn in three ribs.”
The street fair began as part of a Bel Air Downtown Alliance project to attract more restaurants and stores to Main Street, Ward said.
IF YOU GO
» What: 2006 fifth annual Maryland BBQ Bash
» When: 4 to 10 p.m. Aug. 10 and noon to 10 p.m. Aug. 11
» Where: Main Street in Bel Air in Harford County
