Pennsylvania BBQ Festival 2023, pix

[Mosca]

A splendid time was guaranteed for all! It’s continuing tomorrow, at Jim Dietrich Park in Reading, PA. $15 gets you 6 tasting tickets, but many vendors were giving out free samples, too. We got 24 tickets between three of us, someone leaving gave us 2 they had leftover, and we still had 3 when we were leaving. (We used them, more on that later).

The weather report was for rain until around 11AM, then cloudy with peeks of sun until around 4PM, then more rain. We got there around 12:30 and it was POURING… and as soon as we pulled into the park, it stopped! $5 for parking. Bummer.

The setup was a walk down a path through a grove in the woods; very nice!









Everyone was very friendly. Samples abounded, and they were reasonably generous.





And it wasn’t just Q.







TO BE CONTINUED (Photo limit)

[Mosca]

We (myself, our daughter, and our son in law) decided the best course of action would be to sample our way to the end, then anything we wanted to buy, we could get on the way back. There were lots of choices.








(CONT’D)

[Mosca]

Not everything was a hit. There was a lot of pulled pork that tasted completely unseasoned, not even salt… and a lot of pulled pork that was just flat out salty. We found one EXCELLENT stop, though, this guy’s:





And we got kitchen sink loaded tots, which were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We all know that it doesn’t always go that way with loaded stuff. Well, it did this time.



The three of us split that, and, with the samples, and a few well chosen libations, we were stuffed.


I grabbed the stuff that impressed me on the way back: some sauces, some hard cider, the pickles, and some smoked cheese that ROCKED. At the last stop, which was the FIRST sample of the day, was the best of anything there: the Texas style smoked sausage from Backwoods Brothers. We used our last 3 sampler tickets for 3 more sausage samples, and that was the only prepared food we took home in the cooler, a couple of the sausage links.

These guys. They look like they know how to make sausage.




The score! We got a hot sauce, a couple pickles, a sauce from Backwoods, three sauces from Sloppy 2nds, a couple smoked cheeses, a couple 4 packs of cider, and those sausage links!



And then, as soon as we got in the car, and pulled out of the park… it started raining again! Perfect!

[RonB]

That's a really good day.

[mrteddyprincess]

I agree! It was almost like being there with you Mosca.

[texastweeter]

Looks like a perfect day!

[barelfly]

Fun times to be able to share that with your daughter and SIL. Thanks for sharing!

[Panhead John]

Great post Tom! Looks like a really good time.

[texastweeter]

I spent the day out "fishing" with a guy I work with. He's never been fishing, but he is having a rough go lately dealing with a nasty divorce, so figured some guy time was what he needed. Most of the day was spent sitting in the boat listening to him. Not gonna share the details, but I feel for him greatly. He text me just a few ago telling me that it was better than therapy, and asked if we could go again but this time he wanted to learn how to actually fish. Think we both had a good day today.

[Mosca]

When I used to go fishing, I would sit on the shore, toss the line into the water and lean back and fall asleep. It was perfect.

[STEbbq]

That's a really good day.

Nailed it.

[klflowers]

Man I lived in Reading awhile back - I worked for Gilbert Commonwealth - and the best place I went was the Reading Diner. They didn't have the jazz festival or a BBQ festival. I left too soon.

[JLR]

That would be a blast.

[HawkerXP]

I'd call that a nice walk in the woods!

[hoovarmin]

What a great time! Thanks for sharing this.

[CaptainMike]

Great post, Tom, thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[Draznnl]

Sounds like everyone had a great time. Thanks for having us join you.