Southaven Springfest this weekend

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Time to fire up the smoker once again! This weekend The Moody Ques will be in the BBQ competition at Southaven Springfest. The BBQ portion of this festival is Friday and Saturday, April 22 and 23. It’s free to get in before noon both Friday and Saturday, and $10 after that. Kids 10 and under are free.

Directions can be found here. Take Snowden Lane south from Goodman Road. Snowden Lane is a block east of Getwell.

There will be live music both Friday and Saturday, with 38 Special performing Friday night, and Loverboy on Saturday.

The meat will be coming off the grill Saturday for judging, making Saturday afternoon a great time to come down and see how Frank and Erik are doing on their competition shoulder. It just gets better every time. After a ninth place in Atoka, we are gunning for an even higher finish in Southaven, our last regional competition before BBQ Fest. We hope to see you this weekend!

Team members: We need your T-shirt sizes

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We are ready to place the orders for 2016 Moody Ques T-shirts. 1 T-shirt is included in the cost of your dues (2 if you joined as a couple). Please go to this form and give us your T-shirt size. If you need extras, you can let us know in the comments.

http://moodyques.com/t-shirt-signup/

A few reminders:

– If you haven’t paid yet you need to go to http://www.moodyques.com and do that soon. We are going to close the member list in a couple of weeks, and if you haven’t paid your dues by then your BBQ Fest dinner will be a Pronto Pup and Chicken Fries (“Tastes like fries! But it’s CHICKEN!”) from a park vendor. $400 individual, $550 couple.

– We are still looking for a few more team members. Have potential members email moodyques@gmail.com if interested.

– Although we are in talks with a possible new sponsor, we are still open to other leads. Email moodyques@gmail.com if you know of any.

It’s getting close! We are less than a month away from Friends & Family Night. Expect more frequent updates as BBQ time gets close.

Results from Atoka

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The results have been posted for the Atoka regional BBQ festival, and they are good news for the Moody Ques. Out of 49 teams total we placed:

  • 9th in shoulder
  • 29th in ribs

Since we compete in the shoulder division at Memphis in May, that’s the result we care about – and it’s a top-10. Frank and Erik applied everything they have learned the past several months, and it has paid off. We beat some of the big names on the BBQ circuit. Ten months ago we were told we were seen as a team that was flying under the radar, that was going to be as a team to watch out for in the future. We’re not flying under the radar anymore!

Furthermore, Frank C. and Chuck, two of the three experienced judges for whom we did our practice presentation in January, stopped by to sample our shoulder. Their reactions suggested that we have come much farther with our cooking than they expected in only three months. They told us in January “keep doing what you’re doing, and you are going to be one of the big dogs in two or three years.” Perhaps we’re fast-tracking it to big dog status.

With our placing in Atoka, we have proved we are a team on its way up. If you have friends who want to join a BBQ team that is accelerating to new heights, send them our way. We still have a few membership spots open. We are talking to one potential sponsor, but are certainly willing to chat with others as well. Still plenty of room.

In other news, we have put in our shirt order with Josh Cottrell. Josh does great work and he operates out of Winfield’s at Madison and Main if you ever have a need for T-shirt printing. Thanks to Sapana for taking care of the ordering of rubber team wristbands and paper guest wristbands yesterday.

Things are starting to come together. Email us at moodyques@gmail.com if you have questions or need anything.

Photo Apr 02, 9 38 23 AM

Photo Apr 02, 7 56 45 AM

We’re looking for some new members and additional sponsor(s)

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Team,
Do you have any friends, relatives, or co-workers who have always wanted to join a BBQ team but didn’t have connections to a team? Well, now they do. The Moody Ques has a few more membership spots open, and we are looking for people who would be a good fit for the team. Team membership gets you
– Full access to the Moody Ques booth. Booth includes river views on the second story.
– A ticket to Wednesday Friends & Family Night which is not open to the public
– A wristband for admission to Tom Lee Park during public park hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
– Two guest wristbands per night so you can invite friends to stop by Thursday and Friday night (Saturday is rarely crowded so we don’t bother enforcing the wristband policy at the door.)
– Dinner Wednesday, three meals a day Thursday and Friday, and competition shoulder on Saturday. Although shoulder is our competition category, that is not the only meat we serve at the Moody Ques. In the past we have had ribs, beer-can chicken, beef brisket, hot wings and burgers as well as shoulder. Of course, we have side dishes as well. Meals are prepared by a cook team that has been to the official Memphis in May judging school, that has done a practice presentation for three very experienced BBQ Fest and MBN judges, and that has shadowed cooks of a team that is a multi-time award winner.
– A team T-shirt
We are looking for members who are a good fit: People who understand that this is a great time to join the Moody Ques, because we are on our way up as a cooking team; but who also understand that we throw the best party in Tom Lee Park and want to be a part of it. If new members can be available to help with load-in and build before BBQ Fest or load-out afterward that is a huge plus. If you know anyone, send them to http://www.moodyques.com to pay or have them get in touch with us at moodyques@gmail.com for a mailing address for checks. By the way, if YOU haven’t paid yet, you have until the end of tomorrow (Thursday, March 31) to pay before the dues go up $50.
We are still looking for additional sponsors as well. If you know of a company who would be interested in sponsorship, show them our official Sponsor Packet at http://moodyques.com/files/2016/01/MoodyQuesSponsorPacket.pdf (we can get you printed copies of this document upon request). Keep in mind that any sponsorship level can be customized to meet specific company needs.
Thanks everyone!