The 6th annual Green Lake Campground BBQ contest was held this past weekend on Saturday, August 18th. Over the last five years, contestants have competed with grilling baby back ribs, chicken, and brisket. This year’s contest featured a competition with baby back ribs, certainly one of my favorites to grill.

Green Lake Campground BBQ Contest

A major focus of the campground’s BBQ contest is that it’s also a fundraiser. They raise money every year through entry fees, sales of wings, pulled pork, and a corn roast. The fundraising is geared toward “keeping it local” but with a greater focus on people/families in need. Last year’s proceeds went to fund shoreline preservation at Green Lake and restock the lake’s fishery. They have also helped out local families in need in past years, making the contest mean a lot more than prize money and bragging rights.

Our team, Smoke & Bears raised over $240 by selling 30+ pounds of grilled wings and dozens of roasted ears of corn. The top fundraising team was “Smoke & Insanity,” who raised almost $900 by selling 80+ pounds of pulled pork nachos and pulled pork sandwiches.

Team Smoke & Bears

Yours truly, the LWOS.Life Grill Guy was once again vying for the top prize of $250 for best ribs. In years past, our team has finished third in ribs and first in chicken. My team and I were hoping to come out on top of other competitors, some of whom bring some serious grilling equipment to the contest. First of all, our team prefers to keep it simple, using only a regular Weber kettle grill, Kingsford charcoal, and hickory & apple wood chips for smoke. We may get mocked by the BBQ grill snobs, but we bring serious results with our Weber.

Baby Back Ribs

This year we used my stacking method, grilling low and slow. This method involves stacking the racks on top of each other and shuffling them during the smoking process. After applying the rib rub and a drizzle of honey, the ribs smoke for up to 3 hours. The next hour the rib racks are wrapped in foil and allowed to steam in their delicious juices. After that, the BBQ sauce is applied and the racks returned to the grill for about 30 minutes. This allows the BBQ sauce to caramelize into a sweet sticky finger-licking goodness sure to please.

Contest Day

Everybody wonders what contestants do while their ribs are grilling. During the Green Lake Campground BBQ contest, all of the contestants get together for a huge party. Throughout the day, the competitors share stories, recipes, compete in several corn-hole/bags tournaments, and share appetizers with a beer or two for hydration purposes.

The calm before the storm in the contest area

This year my team and I brought three of our favorite appetizers to share, onion bombs, armadillo eggs, and bacon wrapped shrimp. They are listed below so you can check out the recipes and directions. I will list the ingredients for each, and for the directions you simply need to click on the links provided. Enjoy some pictures from the contest day too!

Onion Bomb Ingredients

4-5 large sweet onions
2 pounds Thick sliced bacon
2 pounds Italian sausage, ground beef, or breakfast sausage
Wooden toothpicks
Onion Bomb Directions

The onion bombs are ready to hit the grill!

Armadillo Eggs Ingredients

10-12 large jalapenos
3 pounds Italian sausage
½ pound of softened cream cheese
½ pound of shredded cheddar cheese
Armadillo Eggs Directions

A nest of finished armadillo eggs in the wild

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Ingredients

2 Pounds 9/12 or 16/20 Size Uncooked Shrimp
1 Pound of Bacon
Teriyaki Marinade (optional)
Salt & Pepper (optional)
Cajun Spice (optional)
Wooden Skewers
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Directions

The bacon-wrapped shrimp turned out incredible!

Contest Results

Team Smoke & Bears finished fourth out of the twelve teams competing. Our team was disappointed, but above all we were proud knowing our Weber grill could out-perform many of the fancier grills. The main focus for our team was helping raise money towards the fundraiser. The campground will be donating the proceeds to help send underprivileged children to summer camp next year.