This weekend in Santa Cruz, there is an outdoor barbecue festival with free admission, free music, and guests including MasterChef finalist Jake Gandolfo.
The 1st annual Backyard BBQ Festival takes place on Saturday, August 28 and Sunday August 29 from 11am-6pm in San Lorenzo Park. The festival is presented by Bobby’s Can Cookin’ Smoked Barbecue. Available at the event: beer and wine, arts and crafts, and plenty of barbecue – plus children’s games on Saturday. Bobby’s makes all kinds of meats, including chicken, tri-tip, and hot links. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz.
At Backyard BBQ, there will be ribs cook-off competitions in professional and individual categories. Contestants include Live Oak Smokers, Carmen’s Taqueria, and Jake Gandolfo, currently a finalist on Gordon Ramsay’s newest TV hit, MasterChef. During the latest MasterChef episode (aired Wednesday, August 25), local Santa Cruz chef Jake made it into the top 10 after winning the Cat Cora challenge: Iron Chef Cat Cora demonstrated how to cook a particular halibut dish, then 11 finalists replicated the entree without using a recipe. Jake’s version was deemed best by judges. Read more about Jake and MasterChef.
The Backyard BBQ festival promises lots of great music emceed by two KUSP DJs: Johnny Simmons and Brett Taylor. Saturday’s line-up includes Wild Rovers from 1:30-2:30pm and the Mike Renwick Horn Band from 3-4pm. Sunday’s music is a concert put on by Kuumbwa for its 35th Anniversary. It includes performances by Real Time, a band led by Kuumbwa’s artistic director Tim Jackson (Real Time performs “Latin- and groove-oriented material”), and Frequency Jones (“old-school funk”).
No smoking or dogs are allowed at this festival. Also, Backyard BBQ is a green, “zero waste” event.
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The Details
Backyard BBQ Festival
Sat Aug 28 & Sun Aug 29 11am-6pm
San Lorenzo Park, Santa Cruz
Free admission