By Mary Owen
James Fiske learns something new every time he lights up one of his nine different “cookers.”
Nike Pothetes is so into sauce-coated meats, smoke aromas and eating with family and friends that he now designs his own line of barbecues.
While they may have different grilling styles, Fiske and Pothetes agree there’s nothing better than food cooked on the barbecue.
They are two of the organizers of the Smokin Down The Highway barbecue festival on Aug. 1. The idea for the event was cooked up almost a year ago after a conversation about barbecue competitions between two Sublimity City Council members and local griller Dave Edwards.
“One of them suggested that I organize a local barbecue competition,” Edwards said. “Without giving it much thought as to how much work that would involve, I said sure I could.”
Edwards enlisted the help of Pothetes, Fiske, brother-in-law Greg Atkin and his daughter, Lauren, to make the event a reality. Smokin’ Down The Highway is 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, Aug. 1 and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 2 at the Sublimity Harvest Festival Fairgrounds.
General admission provides entry to the Pacific Northwest Barbecue Association sanctioned event, amateur and youth barbecue competitions, free old-fashioned Kid’s Corner, disc golf, cooking demonstrations, Gilgamesh beer and wine garden, and live musical entertainment. Barbecue samples can be purchased from most of the pro-competitors as well as a handful local vendors. Youngsters who bring three cans of food will not have to pay the $3 fee to attend; kids under 4 are free. Tickets for adults are $10; half price for seniors 62 and older and active/retired military.
Some of the proceeds raised at the barbecue will to the Marion-Polk Food Share and to the Salem Chapter 6 of the Disabled American Veterans to support its van club, which drives veterans to and from doctor appointments.
Russ Strohmeyer will host a car show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1. Registration is $10 prior to July 15, and $15 at the car show, and does not include entry to the barbecue. The car show features more than 50 trophies, drawings, 50/50, and dash plaques to the first 200 cars. Proceeds go to the Brent Strohmeyer Memorial Scholarship Foundation.
“Our goal has been to keep the cost of attending the festival as low as possible so that families could afford to attend,” Edwards said. “All of the labor to run this event is being supplied by local and adult volunteers.”
The group is working with Sella Bemrose of the North Santiam School District to distribute 1,200 new books during the festival to each child who attends, as well as new book donations from Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco and thousands of gently-used books donate by the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation and the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley.
Hillyer Ford came on board as the presenting sponsor and a host of other local businesses have joined in to support the effort.
Atkin grew up with barbecuing and loves to try out new treats including vegetables and barbecue pizza.
Fiske entered his first barbecue cook-off in 2009 and has “been hooked ever since!”
Organizers believe Smokin Down The Highway has an opportunity to be a nationally-noticed barbecue challenge event.
“The hope is to grow this event into a strong community-oriented showcase,” Edwards said. “We are already the largest barbecue event in Oregon this year, and we hope that the crowds will come and support their community groups and our nonprofit.”
For information, including competition entry fees and a schedule of events, visit www.smokindownthehighway.com.
