Lines wound all around Spanish Springs Town Square at the 2017 BBQ Bash. Live music, pleasant weather and a whole lot of BBQ seemed to have everyone enjoying the day.
The lines moved quickly and seemed to give people just enough time to finish the sample from their previous stop and be ready for the next one when it was their turn.
Janet Reid of the Village of Buttonwood had tried eight samples and gave them all high marks. Attending the event for the first time herself, she was enjoying showing out-of-town guests a great example of life in The Villages.
The Villages Charter High School Culinary Arts program made ribs. Mary Jane Crane was really enjoying her sample.
“These are very good. It is a good portion and a good sauce,” she said. “They have really nice kids working the booth.”
Crane and her husband make the BBQ Bash one of their annual traditions. “We just really enjoy this festival,” she said.
One of the students working the booth, senior Logan Betzer, said he entered the Culinary Arts Program not because he wants to be cook as a profession but because, “I am entering college next year and I thought it would be good to know how to cook something other than Ramen Noodles.”
A group of longtime Michigan friends, now all Villagers, were meeting up and all declared independently that the pulled pork from Citizen’s First Bank was their favorite. Jack Cahill said the chicken wings at Road Kill Café were also a favorite. Not everyone in the group had tried the wings because the café had run out.
“People who were here last year knew they were excellent and hit them first so they ran out,” said Cahill. “Plus they were the first stop after the ticket booth.”
The BBQ Bash is a fundraiser for the Villages Charter School.
