LAKE PONCA will provide the backdrop for the 31st annual Cherokee Strip Barbecue Cook-Off set for Saturday. Pictured is BIGFOOT BAR-BQ team members serving up a variety of meats and other delectable dishes at a previous event including pulled pork, brisket, chicken, grilled stuffed chiles, special potato salad and more. The team finished runner-up in that year’s People’s Choice competition. The variety of foods available leaves zero chance of going away hungry.
The 32nd annual Cherokee Strip Barbeque and Chili Cook-Off is all set for this Saturday, September 22, to be held on the shores of Lake Ponca.
The event is hosted each year by Professionals Today, a local civic organization of career women.
At stake for competitors is over $16,250 in prizes.
On the plate for the appreciative attendees will be a veritable feast of barbeque, chili, and other menu items decidedly delicious.
The result — cash, prizes, and satiated hunger pains aside — is a benefit for the Hospice of North Central Oklahoma
Hospice of North Central Oklahoma is a non-profit, free-standing community Hospice. Support coverage includes all of Kay County, and areas of Grant, Noble, and Osage Counties.
Hospice NCO offers medical and emotional support to terminally ill patients and their families. Their services are individualized to meet family and patient needs and range from social services to 24-hour emergency care
DAVE BOUSKA of David Bouska of Team Butcher BBQ will return to the Cherokee Strip Cook-Off attempting to try for his 4th back to back Grand Championship. Bouska, from Chandler, has taken the top spot at the last three events in Ponca City. Over $16,250 in prizes are on the table along with the meats to be tasted and judged. Professionals Today organizers say this will be a record year for the event, which also features live entertainment and more.
Since its inception, the proceeds from this event have been given to the local hospice. In the first 31 years, the event has raised almost $500,000 for this local, non-profit hospice care provider.
As a major North Central Oklahoma event, the cook-off brings new faces and thousands of new tourism dollars to the community. This event is an official state championship contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. It attracts dozens of professional barbecue cooks from across the region, in part due to generous prize money and moreover in that the Cook-Off helps competitors qualify for prestigious cook-offs like the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue and American Royal.
The event is at Lake Ponca. Cross the bridge on the south end of the lake and you can’t miss it. The cooks come in all day Friday to set up for the event and then the competition
BARBECUE FOR a cause: Promoted by local organization Professionals Today, the Cherokee Strip BBQ Cookk-Off is a benefit for the Hospice of North Central Oklahoma. In the first 31 years, the event has raised almost $500,000 for this local, non-profit hospice care provider. Also, it’s delicious. Tasting kit coupons are available to the general public for $5 in advance at several area locations, or for $7 at the Cook-Off.
There are two competitions within the Cook-Off. Some barbeque cooks are competing professionally, gathering points towards national competitions like the American Royal or the Jack Daniels contest.
Still more cooks enter the more local “People’s Choice” contests in BBQ and Chili. Over half of the competitors compete at both levels.
Suitably enough, the general public — read the people with sauce dripping on their collective chins — vote for the people’s choice award.
Tasting kit coupons are available to the general public for $5 in advance or $7 at the Cook-Off.
Over $16,250 in prizes are on the table along with the meats to be tasted and judged.
The event features cooking teams from several states. Still, at its core, the annual cook-off is a community event notes Robyn Ryan, chair of the 2018 Cherokee Strip BBQ Cook-Off who also chaired in 2001, 2014 and 2017.
“The
In that community spirit, Stuart Powell, owner of Cookshack, has donated a Fast Eddy’s by Cookshack pellet-fired wood-burning PG500 smoker/grill valued at $1,815 with the winner to be drawn at the event during the awards ceremony.
Live music entertainment will also be featured, with a slate of artists taking the stage starting at about 11 a.m. For
LAKE PONCA will provide the backdrop for the 32nd annual Cherokee Strip Barbecue Cook-Off this Saturday, with cooking teams from all over converging to compete in the official state championship contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. The annual event attracts dozens of professional barbecue cooks from across the region hoping to qualify for prestigious cook-offs like the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue and American Royal. Pictured are Po Hi Steppets helping with the People’s Choice Award at the Cook-Off last year.
Aside from all the delicious BBQ, concessions offering snow cones, cotton candy, water, pop, and beer will be available.
Tasting tickets are available at Ponca City financial institutions, in Newkirk at Equity Bank, in Tonkawa at First National Bank of Oklahoma and in Blackwell at RCB Bank. They are also available at the offices of the Ponca City Area Chamber of Commerce and Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, behind Staples. Drive-thru ticket sale stations are to be held at the Pioneer Woman circle on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday morning from 8-10 a.m.
“The women in my club who put in this effort each year are amazing. It’s a real team effort to bring this together to put on a big day for everyone,” says Ryan.
Note that no outside vendors will be permitted for this event. For more information, call Robyn Ryan at 580-761-1295.