Pigs and Swigs Festival off to a great start
Steak Cook-off kicks off contests

[June 03, 2017]   LINCOLN -  The Pigs and Swigs Festival kicked off with an evening cooking contest on Friday evening. The Lincoln BBQ Committee chose to offer a Steak Cook-off open to competitors who are present, many camping downtown to be ready for tomorrow’s official Kansas City Barbecue Society contests, but is also open to anyone else who wanted to pay the $75 entry fee.

The steak cook-off category allows more local chefs to participate. Last year’s winner was a Lincoln woman, Kari Lukas who went on to win $10,000 at the World Food Championships in Alabama in Nov. and then won $100,000 as grand champion.

The Friday Night Steak Cook-off will be scored according to KCBS rules and be supervised by onsite KCBS representatives.

The winner of The Friday Night Steak Cook off will again be awarded an entry into the World Food Championships.

Contestants for the Pigs and Swigs Steak Cook-off met at the event tent Friday night to receive instructions for competition.

The $75 entry fee included the two-16 oz prime rib eye steaks.

Nineteen cooks entered the competition for the following purse:

1st place $500
2nd place $300
3rd place $200
4th place $150
5th place $100

The cooks had about an hour and a half to prepare steaks that were judged on appearance, taste, and tenderness. The competition was administered and scored by certified KCBS judges. Winners will be announced Saturday at the Awards Ceremony, which takes place at 5 p.m. on the west side of the Logan County Courthouse.

Live entertainment took place starting at 6 p.m. with “Brother-Sister” from Hartsburg, IL. Members of Brother-Sister are siblings Jonathan and Maddie Thomas with friend Travis Moore. If you missed this Folk-Country singing duet, you can catch them Saturday night at 6 p.m. downtown Lincoln.

Also appearing on the main stage was “Imagine that Band” from Decatur, IL. Festival goers enjoyed the variety classic rock, funk, disco, and contemporary music the group played for their audience. Band members include Todd Hooker, Harvey Horton, Emma Wene-Snearly, Vic Serbe, Dan Phillips and Michael Snearly.

[Lisa Ramlow / with additions by Jan Youngquist]