(photo courtesy of The Great American Barbecue)

The Great American Barbecue has been dubbed the “Mardi Gras of Meat”, as well as the “World’s Largest Carnivore Carnivale” and is coming Memorial Day weekend to the Woodlands facility in Kansas City, Kansas. Over 300 competition cooking teams are expected to compete for $73,000 in prize money. 50,000 attendees are expected to attend one of the largest BBQ contests on the planet.

“With only two years of history, we are bursting at the seams” says Great American BBQ Executive Director Tracy Satterfield. “With over 70 paved acres to be used for the festival, we have filled them all, by enlarging our existing events, and adding even more rings to our circus”.

Some of the additions to the Great American this year, will be a giant kids carnival, cooking demonstrations by nationally acclaimed chefs, a second “Kidz Que”, and a nationally sanctioned competitive eating contest.

Great American Chair Kim Kobe gushes that they have “secured through the International Federation of Competitive Eating, the 'Daniels BBQ Rib Eating World Championship’. Competitors will include national celebrities, as well as local amateur eaters. It’s a very exciting event, and we are thrilled to have them at the Great American. There has never been anything like it in Kansas City”.

To take advantage of the holiday weekend, the Great American has moved their dates, and will kick things off with a Friday, “Apps, Wraps and Wings” contest, a Saturday invitational competition, and a Sunday Open contest.

In addition to the existing music festival, featuring “The Elders”, and their hot air balloon rally, the Great American has taken on a larger culinary flavor. They have increased the size of their “Sauce, Baste and Rub” sampling tent, and is bringing back the popular “Peoples Choice” sauce contest. The 3-day event will also have competition teams selling their best, as well as a bigger BBQ Expo to demonstrate BBQ gear, tools, widgets and anything you can eat – on a stick.

As a labor of love, Satterfield says that “In addition to building the Region’s Premier BBQ event, we have raised over $80,000 for community charities, and are looking to raise even more this Memorial Day. It’s not often that you see an all volunteer event come together with it’s teams, to do such good work for folks that need a helping hand.

The Great American Barbecue will open to the public at 5:00pm on Friday, May 25th. On Saturday & Sunday the grounds will be open to the public from 10:00am to Midnight.

Admission is $10.00 per day, children 12 and under admitted free. $15.00 for a weekend pass. Parking is free.

To get more info go to: The Great American Barbecue 2007