National Western Stock Show

You can teach an old dogie new tricks: The 109th annual National Western Stock Show kicks off today with its first-ever barbecue competition, the National Western BBQ Throwdown. It’s a Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned event at which forty teams comprising the world’s elite barbecue contestants — the majority of them...

By Patricia Calhoun

January 8, 2015

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You can teach an old dogie new tricks: The 109th annual National Western Stock Show kicks off today with its first-ever barbecue competition, the National Western BBQ Throwdown. It’s a Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned event at which forty teams comprising the world’s elite barbecue contestants — the majority of them from Colorado, according to the NWSS’s Morgan Topolnicki — will compete in four barbecue categories: chicken, pork, ribs and brisket. First-, second- and third-place prizes will be handed out in each category; a barbecue grand champion (and a reserve) will also be crowned, winning automatic admission to the 2015 American Royal World Series of Barbecue, held in Kansas City in October.

About half of the fifty judges rating the Throwdown barbecue will be from Colorado; sadly, Adrian Miller, our state’s barbecue/soul-food expert and a James Beard Award-winning author, won’t be among them, because he has a prior engagement. But you can purchase sampling tickets to judge some of the ’cue competitors yourself, Topolnicki says, and local food-truck vendors, including Big Bubba’s BBQ, will also be on hand for those hankering for a big, messy plate of meat. The contest is free to watch if you’ve purchased grounds admission tickets ($10-$19).

And that’s just a taste of the fun in store at the National Western Complex today; events also include fiddle championships, a rodeo, the “Thank a Farmer Magic Show” and much, much more. Find a complete schedule at nationalwestern.com. Yee-haw!
Jan. 10-25, 2015

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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