The Party Band of the South will be rocking Ruleville on Friday night as the Ruleville Roast kicks off for its 17th edition. Replete with a Memphis BBQ-sanctioned cook-off – the fourth stop of the five-contest Delta BBQ Brawl, the event draws cooking teams from all over the U.S.
A host of cooking teams will be competing in downtown Ruleville for some of the BBQ circuit’s most prized trophies. Overseeing the BBQ portion is Elise Jenkins.
“I started with five teams the first year,” Jenkins said. “Now we have 40-45 cooking teams from all over the Memphis BBQ Network.”
The MBN sanctions both the Championship and the Patio Division during the Ruleville Roast. The Championship Division will have up to 25 teams while the Patio teams may number up to 15. Each division will be cooking pork, with the Patio division cooking pulled pork, pork ribs and pork loin. Championship teams will compete in whole hog, pulled pork and pork ribs.
The sanctioned portion happens on Saturday but Friday night will have some fun and friendly cooking competition as well, according to Jenkins.
“We’ll have a slaw contest, bean contest, seafood/fish and Two Brooks Farms, one of our sponsors, has an ‘Anything Rice,’” she said.
In addition, the Ruleville Volunteer Fire Department has a special hot wings contest to honor the memory of Butch Jenkins, Elise’s late husband.
“The RFD 624 Hot Wings Challenge,” she said.
And there will also be a memorial for another great Ruleville celebrity.
“Then there is the All American Robyn Burger Contest in memory of Robyn Marlow. Hamburgers was one of her favorite foods,” she said.
In addition, there will be a steak contest sponsored by Delta Thunder Motorsports. The Saturday BBQ contest is part of the five-BBQ contest, Delta BBQ Brawl, where the overall winners receive $10,000 in the Championship competition and $3,000 in the Patio competition level.
Skillfully crafted by David Wardlow, the BBQ trophies are much envied.
“He has a five-month process where he cuts the cypress tree knees, strips, bleaches and stains them to create the much-envied trophies,” according to Kimberly Eastland, board member of the Ruleville Chamber of Commerce. “He starts this in May. Everybody loves to come to the Ruleville Roast because you get these hand-made cypress knee trophies.”
The Saturday events include plenty of music, family fun and vendors of all sorts.
Eastland explained more of the festival’s schedule.
“Friday we start out at 6 p.m. with The Krackerjacks and they’ll play till about 9:15 or 9:30 and then we’ll have our fireworks show at 9:45 p.m.,” she said.
On Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. the Drew/Ruleville Rotary Pancake Breakfast will have their griddles hot and flowing with deliciousness.
“We’ll have our famous deep fried bacon,” Eastland said. “It’s at the Depot next to the park in downtown Ruleville.”
At 9 a.m., the music portion of the day kicks off with The Williams Gospel Group Singers, followed by Joe Garcia and The Big Guns who will fill in and perform as needed throughout the day. At 11 a.m. the Bayou Academy Band will perform.
Another great Ruleville resident who passed recently will also be honored during the Ruleville roast.
“A special ceremony takes place at 1 p.m. Longtime Ruleville resident and Hollywood costumer, the late Luster Bayless will be honored,” Eastland said. “We have a bench that has been donated and will be set in the park. We’ll have a speech and ceremony dedication to honor him.”
And some big money will be given away as well during the Ruleville Roast. The $10,000 raffle winner will be announced at 3:00 p.m. and the $100 tickets will be available for sale during the roast at the t-shirt tent. At 5:00 p.m. the BBQ winners will be announced to end the day’s events.
“We will have food vendors and children’s inflatables. The Ruleville Volunteer Fire Department is cooking Boston Butt pulled pork, hamburgers and hot dogs for their annual fundraiser,” she said. “And we’ll have sno-cones and funnel cakes and all the usual festival fare.”
The Great Ruleville Roast Facebook page has more information and if anyone would like to be a vendor, forms are available there.
