NBBQA 2023 Conference Recap
The opening day of the conference hosted one of the most impressive restaurant tours that NBBQA has ever witnessed. The three stop tour had attendees raving about what they were able to see and the food they were served. Huge thanks to Sonny’s, 4Rivers, and the local Pig Floyd’s Urban BBQ for all the extra effort in treating us during this venture.
The Wednesday evening welcome reception was sponsored by our friends at Prairie Fresh and they helped throw a tremendous party with the inaugural NBBQA Fire Fight Challenge. Networking, fun and great food was the highlight of this event and saw four tremendous teams face off at a chance for the Championship belt. In the end, Miracle In The Kitchen team walked away with the belt after a clean sweep of all three categories. The attendees who got to sample entries from each team were the luckiest winners of the evening.
Thursday morning began with a great Cooks Church and breakfast hosted by Faith & Fires Ministry, followed by a rousing keynote address and some live music from Thom Kaz. He shared info about his new venture to help veterans called Whiskey Town Warriors. After a round of educational sessions we were treated to a fiesta buffet courtesy of Sucklebusters.
Thursday afternoon we were treated to a tremendous Beef Cuts Class presented by Steve Wald from the National Cattleman’s Beef Association. Afterwards, everyone gathered in the main ball room for happy hour before the annual Awards of Excellence award presentation. The 2023 Awards of Excellence was hosted by BBQ Spot and showcased the Best of the Best from the BBQ and Grilling industry.
Friday brought more breakout sessions before the annual Meet The Masters session was held during lunch. This year focus was placed on pitmasters who have helped put Florida barbecue on the map. Friday evening saw a new member inducted into the Rhinestone Cowboy Cookoff fraternity. Long time NBBQA supporter and member Clay Murphy, from St. Augustine, FL ended up winning the coveted top prize in his first ever SCA event.
Saturday featured some of the biggest names in Barbecue sharing their specialty protein with the Master Class sessions. Tuffy Stone showcased his ribs after Mark Lambert presented how to cook pork shoulder. The Boars Night Out crew showed out with their competition Whole Hog presentation just before Moe Cason and Bob Trudnak showed how to cook Brisket and Beef Ribs. This is hands down one of the best Master BBQ classes ever presented at an NBBQA conference.
NBBQA also hosted a double SCA Steak Cookoff on Saturday, sponsored by Meadow Creek BBQ. History was made during the steak B event as Tim and Sandy Brown from Stress Relief BBQ tied for 1st place with perfect scores. Their new name has become “The Perfect Couple.”
We want to give a huge shout out to each and everyone who helped to bring life to this conference and please know that we could not have done it without each of you. From every sponsor, presenter, attendee, cook, dishwasher, and supporter, we just cannot say thank you enough. We are already busy on the next event and we hope to see you there!