Published: July 19, 2008 10:03 pm            

Annual Clabber Girl Brickyard BBQ Fest draws a crowd in downtown Terre Haute

TERRE HAUTE — Hot weather and a little rain Saturday didn’t stop people from attending the Clabber Girl Brickyard BBQ Fest, regardless of how they got there.

Cody Little rode in on a 1947 Harley-Davidson motorcycle complete with a sidecar, which his father has had for about 22 years. He parked the motorcycle along with about a dozen others in the first Cruise-in Bike Show at the festival.

His sister, 10-year-old McKayla Little, arrived in the sidecar.

“It’s kind of rough because of all the bumps and stuff,” she said, “and you get lots and lots of wind.”

Joe DeWeese, 23, of Brazil just drove to the festival, but spent most of his time participating in the corn-hole tournament, another first for the festival this year.

Most notably known at tailgating events, corn-hole is similar to a beanbag toss.

It’s called corn-hole because the bags are full of corn and players are trying to get the bags in a hole.

Teams received three points for every bag they got in the hole and one point for bags that landed on the board; however, an opponent can knock the bag off the board with their bag and then no points are awarded. The first team with 21 points first, wins.

“It’s just a lot of fun,” DeWeese said about the game. “It doesn’t take much skill.”

DeWeese, who has been playing corn-hole for about three years, said he prefers to use an underhand toss, noting a lot of people like to toss the bag like a Frisbee so it’ll spin when it lands to possibly knock other bags off the board or slide in the hole.

“I just throw it underhand and hope for the best,” he said.

David Lenges, 22, of Terre Haute was one of those spin tossers.

“You gotta do the spin toss,” he said. “Everybody uses the spin toss if you’re a veteran [player]. The bag walks into the hole.”

There were about eight years of corn-hole experience between Lenges and his partner, 22-year-old Mike Rogers of Terre Haute. Together, they made up team Conquest.

“It’s a great drinking game,” Lenges said about corn-hole.

Eighteen teams participated in the tournament, according to Teresa Shaffer, a Clabber Girl spokeswoman. The winning team was expected to receive about $300 with the rest of the proceeds going to the United Way of the Wabash Valley.

This was the fourth year for the festival — which takes place the weekend before the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard — in the Clabber Girl Festival Marketplace on Ninth Street between Wabash Avenue and Cherry Street.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the United Way of the Wabash Valley as it kicks off its annual pilot campaign. Non-perishable, nutritious food donations also were accepted at the United Way booth all day for Catholic Charities Terre Haute, which distributes to 120-food distributing charities in the Wabash Valley every year.

“It’s awesome to see this many people out in the community enjoying themselves,” said Troy Fears, executive director of the United Way of the Wabash Valley.

Fears said a steady stream of people stopped by the United Way booth to talk about how the United Way has helped them, which he said was “very satisfying to know that we are helping.”

Four bands — Backroads Band, the Midwest Playboys, Side Project and Telluride — provided live music throughout the day.

With barbecue in the festival’s name, there was no getting around the food. There were nine different barbecue vendors in addition to other food vendors and five contestants in the amateur barbecue contest.

Sandra Hayes and her husband William enjoyed some barbecue food from Rick’s Smokehouse & Grill and Hickory Grove. It was their first time at the event.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Sandra said about the various vendors. “You can see what everyone has and try different things. We’re barbecue fans.”

She said they plan to be back next year.

“I like it; it gives you something to do in the community,” Sandra said. “You get to see friends and acquaintances you haven’t seen in a while … I’d like to see more things like this.”

Shaffer said she was pleased with the turnout despite the hot weather and occasional bouts of rain.

“I think we’re just going to try to continue to expand all different things and make it better,” she said about the festival.

Other events available at the festival were a kids’ carnival with games, face painting and hair painting; Colts in Motion; a rock climbing wall; a Cruise-in Car Show and a dunk tank.

Unlike past years, each sponsor had a representative on the planning board, which Shaffer said “made a huge difference.”

In addition to Clabber Girl, other sponsors were Refreshment Services Pepsi, First Financial Bank, Wal-Mart, Time Warner Cable Media Sales, Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau, WIN 98.5, Midwest Communications, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Hilton Garden Inn, Dorsett Mitsubishi, Wabash Valley Harley Davidson and Duke Energy.

“We’ve had so much cooperation from so many different people,” Shaffer said. “For [the festival] to grow, it can’t just be us. It has to be the whole community, and the whole community has come together.”

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.

        

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