http://www.jackdaniels.com/TheDistillery/InvitationalBBQ.aspx
  

Jack Daniel’s World Championship
Invitational Barbecue
Write-up by Donna Fong & Overall SCORES below...
 
   

Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House
Lynchburg TN  37352
Now owned by the Jack Daniels Distillery
Family Style Dining
We had lunch there attended by Vince, Alexa, Dave, Karen, Todd, and I Thursday at 01:00 p.m. upon arrival in Lynchburg.
Thanks Kim for a GREAT Lunch !!!

Our dining table inside of Mary Bobo's.

Dan Cannon & Todd Eves at statue of Jack Daniel's

A statue of Jack Daniel's,
Height: 5' 2" [ 1.57 m ]. Born: 5 September 1846. Died: 9 October 1911
 

Kim and her niece Alina (Sandy's daughter)

Our hotel while at the Jack, walking distance

Retired Worker at Jack Daniel's & Kim

Bruce, Alexa, and Vince, Rhythm N’ Que
 

Harry & Donna, Slap Yo Daddy

An International Team

An International Team
    

An International Team

Jen, Karen, Tom, & Kim 

Tom & Jen Duncan,
www.WhiskyRanchBBQ.com of Arizona
   

Graceland
    

Graceland

The below Article was mailed to me by Donna Fong and she generously allowed me to post it with these pictures !!!        Thanks a BUNCH Donna !!!

The 24th Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue

By Donna Fong

In every sport there is a place so hallowed that one feels compelled to visit simply to understand the scope of its importance in history. In baseball, these places are Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. In horseracing, the Kentucky Derby and for mountain climbing, Mount Everest.
For competition barbecue, one of these sacred grounds is the Jack Daniel’s World Invitational BBQ Championship. If you live in California like I do, it is hard to figure out what all the fuss is about, particularly if you are nearsighted and lacking in imagination. Tennessee seems further away than 2,300 miles when a grand championship and a drawn bung are prerequisites for inclusion. Not only do you have to be good, you have to be lucky too.
Though my bung wasn’t drawn for the Jack, I was invited by Harry Soo of Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ who was one of three California teams present. Larry Hill from Hanford was returning to the Jack as a member of the Pelletheads.com team. Scott and Pam Hares of Too Ashamed To Name from San Jose made up the third competitive team from California. So we had Southern, Central and Northern California represented in much the same way as we were at the American Royal Invitational only two weeks prior. There were other teams from the west who seemed to be just as glad to see a familiar face; R & R BBQ from Salt Lake City, Sin City Smokers from Las Vegas, Rhythm ‘n Que from Phoenix, and IAB 30 from Chandler/Gilbert.
After months of planning for the Jack, I still didn’t know what to expect when I arrived. What I learned was that October is a gorgeous time to visit this part of Tennessee. The trees are in full bloom, the weather is mostly agreeable and the town of Lynchburg is bustling with activity and tradition.
The Jack has many traditions which give it a unique charm. During team check-in, the head cook is given a wooden bung inscribed with his team name. A bung is cork that is normally used to plug a whiskey barrel. The particular cork given was the one used in the draw two months earlier. Teams also receive a shiny black banner bearing your team name and hometown along with the contest name and year. And if you are willing to pay a few extra dollars, which many do, the Lynchburg hardware & general store, a truly unique shopping experience and local folks town gathering spot, will inscribe your team name on an American oak whiskey barrel lid. These dark woody lids serve like high school yearbooks. The charm to them is in their uniqueness. Typically, teams ask other participants to sign their lid as a reminder of who was at the event. The four most common questions we heard at the Jack were: Can I taste some of your BBQ… Where are you from… Can I take a picture with Harry… and, Will you sign my barrel lid? Nobody ever asked what Myron was like. He was down the road from us. Visitors could find out for themselves.
On Friday night, teams were asked to wear their team shirts, bring a banner and a state flag and participate in the team parade procession. The parade began at the entry to the contest under the laundry line of international flags and continues a ¼ mile through historic Lynchburg square and ends at the Jack Daniels distillery. We were lead by the Moore County High School marching band dressed in baby blue uniforms. Their music entertained us as we loaded into yellow school buses which transported us up historic barbecue hill. This short trip motors up a small hill and passes America’s oldest distillery which puffs and blows wisps’ of grain into the dense cold night air. When we reached the top, we found a large open air wooden pavilion called Barbecue Hill. This sheltered wooden building is dark but periodically accented by a glowing fireplace. There began one line for a buffet dinner; a separate line for fried catfish and another line for drinks. The last line seemed the slowest but definitely the most social. Most guests ordered the Lynchburg lemonade, which was served in a clear plastic cup with ice, steadied by a white stirrer topped with a small statue of Jack Daniels himself. With a glance at your wristband, a person with a hole puncher determined when you were done drinking. Considering the importance of the cook, I was done drinking after one lemonade.
A bus took us back down the hill to continue on our journey. The night air is moist in Lynchburg and can only be outdone by a foggier contest in Buena Park back at home. We dropped our empty plastic cups in the garbage and began loading Harry’s solo WSM with 40lbs of meat for the evening. The rest of the night would be spent sleeping in the minivan next to the smoker, periodically checking that everything was running smoothly. We were thankful it wasn’t raining nor was it barely above freezing. The Jack was kind for 2012.
Looking at a visitors tour guide map, there are two arms to the contest grounds, separated by a fulcrum of a large dark wood shed which houses the judging. On one arm is where many of the US teams and vendors are located. The other is composed of a small horse trotting track and a baseball field. In the center of the trotting track are the international teams. If asked, the Jack will provide cookers and meat to all international teams. There were a total of 18 international teams and 68 domestic teams. All judging can be viewed from the perimeter of the shed and visitors are welcomed to sit in the stadium seats which line one side of the judging arena. This provided a unique opportunity to view live KCBS judging since almost all other contest judging is conducted behind closed doors. Bales of hay guide teams to the turn-in table and a volunteer behind you ensures that you keep the line moving after you release your box for judging. The dense walking paths of visitors justified a two person team to turn in an entry. We had one person serve as the crowd pusher and another as the box holder and sometimes we added a yeller who pointed out cables, cracks and rocks to be avoided during our 3 minute walk.
Our tent had few walls and visitors were apt to watch Harry as he prepared each entry for the judges. The crowd around us grew as the time for each entry approached. There must have been 30-40 people staring down at the prep table as Harry finished his boxes. We even received an unexpected round of applause when the pork shoulder box lid was closed. I suddenly realized we were giving a performance, and I thought we were just cooking BBQ. As I quickly realized, we were sharing our food, our adventure and our excitement with everyone around us, whether they were experts in BBQ or not.
It all flew by so fast. There were so many moments that I regretted not stretching out longer. Todd Eves, Dan Canon and Kim Walton visited us on Saturday and it was truly great to see them. I was glad we ran into them earlier at the general store when I was less encumbered by BBQ duties. Karen Dove of BBQ TV on her fancy new scooter could be everywhere at once and was a great resource on what we should be doing next. Our tent theme was Hippiest Home in the Hallow. Hung all around the tent were posters of Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock, Santana and The Grateful Dead and two walls of door beads accented the entry. On the front table were a lava lamp (donated by Ric Gilbert) and a boom box playing music by Janis Joplin and her contemporaries. The European All Stars, who were stationed across the track from us, gave an entertaining Air Magic Show on Friday night. R & R BBQ hosted a fish fry on Thursday evening. Pam and Scott Hares serendipitously arrived as we were taking a group picture at the pavilion. The photos of us anticipating the next day were definitely good ones to keep. We were all having a good time and laughing at Adam Berns’ jokes. And all one had to do was look up and one could see KCBS Contest Rep Dave Lopps’ wide friendly smile which made me feel welcomed at the Jack. We bumped into Tommy and Jennifer Duncan of Whiskey Ranch and Smoked to the Bone BBQ from Gilbert, AZ in front of the hardware store and enjoyed a nice chat. Even Sherry Berry and one of her sons from Temucula Rub Company paid us a visit.
One of the most memorable moments at the Jack was having "dinner" at Miss Mary Bobo’s on Friday at 11am. We were greeted by our table host, Betty Ann Nutt, who sat with us in the Parks room in this former boarding house. Our table held 15 guests which shared a meal "family style" of fried chicken, greens, corn bread muffins, beans & relish, candied apples, real mac’ n cheese, fried okra, roasted pork loin with gravy and sweet tea. Pepper vinegar was available if you wanted to add some kick to your meal. You were encouraged to keep your number of servings of baked candied apples to two, though a serving could be as many as four scoops if no one noticed. Basically, you could eat as much as your conscious would allow. It was all so delicious. Our host assured us that Miss Mary herself lived on this steady diet of lard, butter and sugar until she died two weeks short of turning 102 years of age.
During the meal, Mrs. Nutt, a retired high school teacher, with measured speed shared with us stories about Miss Mary Bobo and how she came to have a boarding house and how Jack Daniels frequented her kitchen. We learned some history about German POWs who were housed in Tullahoma during World War II. These soldiers sometimes paid in gold to hold our hostess who was then a baby because they missed their children at home so much. Through storytelling, Mrs. Nutt wove a charming pattern of southern traditions and American history during a dinner which was the highlight of my trip.
By the end of Saturday, we were cloaked in Southern hospitality and understood why Lynchburg was such a special place. And after a 2.5 hour awards ceremony and much hooting and hollering, Scott and Katy Nelson from Mason City, Iowa won Grand Champion by a landslide 19 points at 708.5714 total. They were the obvious winners as they had run up and down the aisles for much of the ceremony. I am not sure if anyone has ever dominated a BBQ field in quite the same way but they looked liked Secretariat in the making. You couldn’t help but admire their talent, skill and youth.
The west coast teams also did very well. Rhythm N’ Que finished first in chicken and 7th in dessert. IAB 30 was 10th in chicken and 11th in ribs. Sin City was 1st in chef’s choice and 12th in pork. SYD finished 27th overall and 17th in ribs. Too Ashamed to Name finished 23rd in sauce and 32nd in pork shoulder. Pelletheads.com took 6th in pork ribs, and 23rd in pork shoulder and 12th in chef’s choice. Not too shabby for the western states contingency. Many thanks to Debbie Christian and her staff for organizing the contest and KCBS representatives, Lori Lopp, Dave Lopp and Carolyn Wells and to Randy Bigler for checking our meat. Congratulations to Ardie Davis for receiving Pioneer of Barbeque award. And special thanks to Jack’s master distiller, Jeff Arnett who handed out the awards to each team.
A very special shout out to Dave Bouska who is a CBBQA business member and instructor who won 1st in sauce, 22nd in chicken, 5th in pork shoulder, and 14th overall. Dave was three teams over from us along the trotting track and we got a chance to meet his very nice wife, Wilma and his brother, Martin, who is his regular cooking partner. And to Don Simpson of Team Enoserv who frequented California contests this year. Don took 16th in sauce, 4th in dessert, and 2nd in brisket. It was people like Dave, Don and all of the teams that were a part of the Jack that made this event extra special. Put aside the traditions and pretty scenery and what you have left are the people who are responsible for making "THE JACK" the contest you have to attend at least once in your lifetime. It IS worth the fuss. Congratulations to all who participated this year and best of luck to those of you getting bungs tossed into the barrel already
 

The DRAW --- Teams announced for the 2012 Jack Daniels
Invitational World Championship BBQ October 2012 

  Among the many criteria to qualify for ‘The Jack’ includes:

Grand Champions from the previous year’s:

Jack Daniel’s Invitational
The American Royal Open

The annual Memphis in May and Houston Livestock & Barbecue competitions receive automatic entries

Additionally, to qualify U.S. teams must have already won a competition in which 50 or more teams participated, or they must have won a competition of at least 25 teams that has been designated a state championship.

The 24th Annual Jack Draw