Review of The First Annual Masonic Pg-Jig North Carolina BBQ Cook-Off At The N.C. State Fairgrouds September 16, 2006 by H. Kent Craig ©2006

Having spent all day Friday in Charlotte with a delegation of Armenian diplomats and political officials at the request of our State Department, I was too tired and too wired to drive back to Raleigh on Friday night so I stayed in the Charlotte area and left early around 6:30AM-ish to arrive in time to check in as one of the "celebrity" judges (well, I guess having the most popular website/page on NC-BBQ on the entire Web does make one a very minor grade celebrity of sorts) for the first annual Masonic Carolina Pig-Jig BBQ Cookoff & Competition , things didn't look too good.

There was a lot of seeming confusion (this was their first incarnation, after all), the sky was heavily overcast and looked like rain might move in at any time and there was a feeling that a lack of sufficient pre-event publicity in the weeks preceeding might, might draw a hundred or a little more $10-each paying customers for all the all-you-can-eat fundraiser for the Raleigh Rescue Mission (50% of the proceeds) and Masonic Childrens' (orphans) Homes (the other 50% of the proceeds, and these were total proceeds, not net, ALL money raised going to said because of all the generous donations) and, well, maybe better luck next year.

Truth be told, and you know I speak nothing but the truth, while the skies did stay overcast such a hugh crowd showed up and bought tickets and ate barbecue that every single bite, and I do mean that literally, of the thousand pounds-plus of barbecued pork and and hundreds of barbecued chickens was eaten before even 2PM when they had to stop selling tickets because there was no more 'cue to be had, yeah, damn is right, what a success, and sincere congratulations to Lee Dugas and his dedictated cadre of volunteers and all the eight teams that participated this year (next year there will probably be at least double that number) in what will become a classic event on the North Carolina barbecue circuit. I just hope I'm invited back next year.

The panel of celebrity judges . . . from left to right: Gene Jernigan, Grand Master for the year 2006 for The Grand Lodge of North Carolina Masons // "Kimberly" (she asked that her last name not be printed), qualified barbecue judge and girlfriend of Jim Early Jr. (center) who literally wrote the book on NC-BBQ called "Tarhell Barbecue" and founder of the NC BBQ Society and is a renowned and respected authority and schooled judge on all types of barbecue // myself // Gerald Owens, news anchor at WRAL-TV Chanel 5 in Raleigh and one heckuva nice guy and who is actually a full inch or better taller than me (at 6'4", not too many are taller than yours truly, Smile)// and James Hill, who is the franchisee for North Carolina for the Red-Hot-Blue barbecue restaurant chain and major volunteer sponsor of the event (among several others).	Myself . . . Jim Early & Gerald Owens
	And the winners of the 1st Annual Masonic Pig-Jig BBQ Cookoff competition are: Joey Transon (left) and Cliff Pranke (right) of BigBoy BBQ, phones 336-971-7804 & 336-408-8521, respectively.

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