Under The Radar Wins Marietta River City BBQ

MARIETTA, OH — Folks in Marietta might have noticed some heavenly aroma emanating from the Washington County Fairgrounds. Busses, trailers, and food trucks were lined up starting Friday morning for a major cooking competition. The event was called the Marietta River City BBQ and is under the umbrella of the Kansas City Barbecue Society.

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Emmeline Wharton organized this whole event. She says they started holding the competition in 2008 in the armory, she helped out and really enjoyed the whole thing. "I inherited this back in 2013." She decided to relocate the event to the fairgrounds for obvious reasons. "It's just better for the competitors, it's more wide open."

The competitors came from far and wide. "There were a lot of teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan. One team is from Wisconsin." She said some teams travel the east coast for competitions. "One guy from Texas is coming. People from Tennessee and West Virginia."

The National Turkey Federation made an appearance. You read that right, they're a thing. They're a group that advocates for America's turkey industry. This year they sponsored the 2021 KCBS Turkey Smoke Ancillary at the Marietta River City BBQ Competition.

Sadly this was not a public event. These teams may have traveled from different parts of the country to cook here, but they were only cooking for a panel of preselected judges. Most of the judges were certified, but due to COVID-19, a lot of certified judges aren't out and about. One might ask what it takes to be a certified judge in one of these competitions? A four-hour class on how to judge meats based on appearance, taste, and texture. So this year the event had to rely on some backup judges.

Meat judging is a completely blind process, no judge has any clue as to which team cooked their meats. The judges scored a variety of meats on a scale of 1-9. One of the replacement judges was surprised by how seriously those involved take the judging process. Judges were not paid, but were given delicious meals and thanked for their time.

Pro team entry fee was $275 per team. There were nearly 30 teams and 70% of that money was awarded back to the competitors as prize money. According to Wharton, this isn't just about the money. "They want the points they want the recognition, they do want the money, but they also want the bragging rights." She says some of the teams don't even have a business, for some, this is just an expensive hobby. According to Wharton, they're pretty serious about their meat. How serious?

Here are the official results of the competition.

Pro Team Overall Scores

1. Under the Radar
695.98842

2. Peace, Love & Smokiness
690.89163

3. BO-B-Q
690.25124

4. Elegantly Violent BBQ
689.72565

5. Tire Smoke BBQ
687.93126

6. The BBQ Bus
687.44007

7. Booya Q
681.72568

8. Shiggin Ain't Easy!
681.71449

9. Redmule's Bad Ass BBQ
678.800010

10. Smitty's Real Pit BBQ
678.262811

11 Beer Time BBQ
676.045612

12. High on the Hog
674.777213

13. Convicted Pigs BBQ
673.085614

14. Bucket Boys BBQ
670.262815

15. Go Big or Go BBQ
666.251216

16. Baby B's BBQ
665.188817

17. Mort's Meat Mafia
658.274418

18. Brothers of Ohio BBQ
658.228419

19. Foomanchoo BBQ
655.462820

20. Smoke Rider BBQ
647.382821

21. Circle L BBQ
645.599622

22. Joe's Smokin' Hole BBQ
642.331223

23. Sucka Bone BBQ
638.148424

24. BG's Backyard BBQ
632.548425

25. What Up Grill
631.314026

26. Fat Boyz BBQ of WV
625.074427

27. Moonshine Mike's BBQ
623.977228

28. Du-little BBQ
619.428429

29. Smoked Wright BBQ
590.6628

Top 5 in individual categories
Chicken:

1. Booya Q - 178.8800

2. Elegantly Violent BBQ - 175.4400

3. Under the Radar - 174.8800

4. Shiggin Ain't Easy! - 174.8572

5. Tire Smoke BBQ - 173.7028

Pork Ribs:

1. Under the Radar - 178.2972

2. Peace, Love & Smokiness - 174.8800

3. Redmule's Bad Ass BBQ - 174.8456

4. Mort's Meat Mafia - 174.3772

5. Baby B's BBQ - 173.7488

Pork:

1. Baby B's BBQ - 173.1544

2. Tire Smoke BBQ - 171.9656

3. Under the Radar - 171.9656

4. Peace, Love & Smokiness - 171.4400

5. Brothers of Ohio BBQ - 171.4284

Brisket:

1. BO-B-Q - 177.7028

2. The BBQ Bus - 177.1428

3. Booya Q - 176.0000

4. High on the Hog - 175.4172

5. Peace, Love & Smokiness - 174.2972

Backyard Chicken:

1. Tasker's Barbeque Supply - 175.4744

2. D'Qued Barbeque - 164.0228

3. Michael's BBQ - 163.4400

4. Devils Palate - 161.1200

5. Dogpatch Q - 159.4056

Backyard Ribs:

1. Tasker's Barbeque Supply - 171.4288

2. D'Qued Barbeque - 164.5256

3. Ham Squad - 160.0228

4. T & S BBQ - 151.3944

5. 81 Q - 151.3828

Turkey:

1. Convicted Pigs BBQ - 178.8572

2. Smoked Wright BBQ - 175.4400

3. Smitty's Real Pit BBQ - 173.1544

4. Brothers of Ohio BBQ - 173.1200

5. Tasker's Barbeque Supply - 170.8456

A full list of the results can be found here.

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