The Bumpy Pickle Team was overall champion of the Marion County Fair’s first Clinton County BBQ Sanctioned Cookoff held over the weekend.
Marion County Fair Board President Doug Telford says a combination of events brought out a crowd
“It went very well today,” Telford said. “The weather put just a touch of damper on us last night and late this afternoon, but we had a very good turnout here for our vendor fair and the barbeque cookoff. There were also good numbers in the jackpot livestock show today. We had a few cars show up for the car show despite the weather.”
Ten teams participated. The President of the Clinton County BBQ, Ron Albers, Junior, was pleased with how the event went.
“It went very smooth,” Albers said. “We had a good class of judges, everything was turned in on time, the cooks had a good time, we had a nice crowd to eat up the food, and we didn’t have a lot of leftovers. All in all, it’s a win-win. Hopefully we raised some money for the Marion County people.”
The reserve champion was Nice Butts BBQ and won the Junior Miss Choice. Beer Belly BBQ won People’s Choice. With a perfect score, Pappy Jacks won the chicken wing category. They also took first in the pork category. Both Beer Belly BBQ and Hog Heaven tied with a perfect sore in ribs, with Hog Heaven winning on a coin toss.
The Marion County Fair Board plans to make the event an annual one.

Photo by Bruce Kropp.

Photo by Bruce Kropp.