Suzanne Tubis is co-founder and producer of the Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle happening in downtown D.C. this weekend. She and her husband, Allen, have been putting on the event for 17 years. It benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington’s Metropolitan Police Club Houses. (For information, go to bbqdc.com.)

How did the barbecue competition begin?

It started as a celebration of [Bill] Clinton and [Al] Gore winning the presidential election in 1992. They are both from Southern states, so we thought because there isn’t a lot of barbecue around D.C. that it would be appropriate to bring people together around barbecue in celebration.