Oinktoberfest Again

The most family-friendly barbecue cookoff that I’ve ever attended is Oinktoberfest, held annually in late September in Clarence, NY. It’s held at the Great Pumpkin Farm that conducts a fall festival more than a month long with a full schedule of activities, events, entertainment, and contests, including the cookoff. The farm is one of “America’s top pumpkin patches,” according to several travel and media organizations.

The Great Pumpkin Farms hosts Oinktoberfest each September during its fall festival.

On one weekend during the seven-week festival, Oinktoberfest brings in cooking teams and judges for a contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. The cookoff, the longest running barbecue competition in New York, has grown from 10 teams in its first year to more than 90 in some years from throughout the United States and Canada.

Some teams, such as this one, came across the border with Canada -- and even had signs in French.

Two years ago, the first time that I was a judge at Oinktoberfest, 54 teams participated. This year 51 teams, including 9 from Canada, competed for the prize money and trophies. So many teams require a lot of judges, and they take full advantage of the large space available at the farm. Many judges have been certified for years but judge at only a few events each year, and a few judge only annually at the Oinktoberfest.

Cooking teams set up in open areas of the farm among festival activities.

Before and after the judging activities, the judges wandered among the farm’s festivities. The huge display of pumpkins, gourds, hay bales, cornstalks and mums was the most popular attraction for the young and young at heart. Musical groups also performed at the outdoor stage, which was next door to the events building where the judges met.

Judges relax in the events building before their activities begin.

Although the people who attended the festival were interested in the barbecue contest, the pumpkin displays definitely captured more attention than anything else at the festival. The cooking teams unquestionably prepared competition-worthy entries, which I enjoyed judging. However, the festival activities made being at the contest that much more enjoyable.

Displays of pumpkins capture more attention than BBQ signs.