Rock n Rib BBQ Festival
New Cooking Stage is a Delicious Addition
The 2011 Rock ‘n Rib Festival presented by Rib Crib BBQ & Grill welcomed 41,024 visitors to Downtown Tulsa for championship barbecue from seven award-winning pitmasters from across the nation. The four-day festival also featured live music from 17 bands, beer and barbeque, a children’s play area, free mechanical bull rides, and the new Curtis Culinary Stage.
The Curtis Culinary Stage
Our client, Curtis Restaurant Supply, was invited to sponsor a new cooking stage attraction at the Rock n Rib BBQ Festival. The new Curtis Culinary Stage was located near festival entrance and featured live cooking demonstrations from national award-winning pitmasters and local celebrity chefs. SMG, the BOK Center management company, is a client of Curtis Restaurant Supply, and owners David Hillin and Jay Gulick were happy to participate in the event as a thank you to SMG for their continued business and support. Secondly, this was an opportunity to gain exposure to an untapped Curtis market segment, the general public.
The cooking stage was a new attraction to the festival so there wasn’t any rules, processes or plans. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on who you ask. If you ask me, it was a very good thing. The SMG/BOK center event personnel were creative, enthusiastic, and flexible. Together, we were able to create a successful first time event that we were able to learned from to make the next year even more successful.
The BOK Center handled the festival promotion with a multitude of media. However, we added to the promotion by partnering with www.TulsaFood.com to run several fun contests and chances to win some cool kitchen goodies and prizes. The contest information was cross-promoted on the Curtis website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as Tulsa Food’s website, blog, Facebook and Twitter pages, beginning the week of September 12th. Curtis gained exposure as well as 120 new Facebook fans.
Curtis owner, David Hillin, was one of 10 judges determining the winner of the rib competition from all the championship vendors. He rated the ribs on different components like taste, texture, and sauce. It was a tough job but someone had to do it!
One of the greatest challenges was lining up the chefs to conduct the cooking demonstrations. Local Curtis clients were recruited as well as the national pitmasters. The chefs were all very gracious and excited to be included in the event. However, there were two chefs that dropped out at the last minute. We were able to find replacements by taking advatanage of the onsite pitmasters.
Besides the tornado evacuation on Saturday night, our client was pleased with the exposure to an untapped market demographic and to be able to give back to their client, SMG / BOK Center.
STAGE EVENTS SCHEDULE
Thursday, September 15
6:30pm – BBQ 101: How to choose the Right Meat – Pitmaster Pat Nelson of Big Boned BBQ Company
7:30pm – BBQ 101: Preparing Award-winning Pulled Pork – Pitmistress Donna Rice of Desperado’s BBQ
8:30pm – BBQ 101: How to Properly Use and Apply Dry Rub Like a Pro – Pitmaster Jon Bigalk of Willingham’s BBQ
Friday, September 16
5:30pm – Tasty Sides: Local celebrity chef demo – Chef Zane Kelley of Main Street Tavern
6:30pm – Competition Secrets: How to make award winning ribs – Pitmaster Brandon Manly of RibCrib
7:30pm – Gourmet Grilling: Peach-Chipotle Barbecued Salmon & Beef Brisket “Parfait”- Chef Devin Levine of BOK Center
8:30pm – Grilled Pizza: Local celebrity chef demo – Chef Cody Stell of In The Raw
Saturday, September 17
5:30pm – BBQ 101: – Texas-Style BBQ and Grilling Tips- Pitmaster Dallas Green of Cowboys BBQ Company
6:30pm – Competition Secrets: How to make award winning brisket – Pitmaster Brandon Manly of RibCrib
7:30pm – Cool the Heat: How to Make a Limonana and other BBQ Drinks – Bartender Stuart Stewart of Cosmo Cafe
8:30pm – Competition Secrets: Pitmaster Dan Johnson, Johnson BBQ, Chesapeake, VA
Sunday, September 18
12:30PM – KidsQ: Cooking with Remmi, the culinary kid – Chef Remmi Smith
