Cooking ribs like the Dickens

Georgia couple wins top prize at Eastpoint cookoff

John Solomon’s 10/4 BBQ team took third place and the People’s Choice award for its popular chicken dinners.
[ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Ira Kelly, with the Bayshore Porkers, shows off his racks on the grill. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Richard Radford, the department’s deputy chief, won the Liar’s Contest for a tale he told about obeying highway signs that read “Clean Bathroom Ahead.” [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Eastpoint’s Cliff and Denise Butler, wearing their Rotary vests, are longtime volunteers at the cookoff.
[ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Eastpoint firefighter Jerry Marschka helped cook all week for the fire department crew. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Guitarists Mike Johnson, pastor at Eastpoint Church of Christ, at right, and Ronnie Segree were members of the band that entertained all afternoon. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Judges in the cookoff were, front table, from left: Bill Bassett, Bob Heide, Lance Rodan and Rod Jones; and back table, from left: Paul Riegelmayer, Ron Prange, Tom Bernhard, Mark Boutin, Shirley Richardson, and table captain Gail Riegelmayer. Not pictured is volunteer organizer Glen Siler. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Jay Humpreys, who took Honorable Mention, brushes sauce on this rack of ribs. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

This trio of firefighters from the On Scene team came in from Bay County to compete. They are, from left: Terry Parris, division chief from the Panama City Beach department; Jerry Swearingen, assistant chief of the Springfield department; and David Joyner, the Callaway fire chief. [ David Adlerstein | The Times ]

Charlene and Andy Dickens have been bringing down their Double D Smokers’ talents to the Eastpoint Rib Cookoff for the last four years.

Last Saturday, they put it all together and traveled back to Andersonville, Georgia with a $1,000 check in their pockets, which they plan to spend on their rig at the next big competition, the Big Pig Jig, Nov. 1 and 2 in Vienna, Georgia.

“We hit the tenderness and the taste,” said Andy. “We had a good blend.”

The Dickens had several racks of prime Prairie Fresh ribs from the Apalachicola Piggly-Wiggly to work with and so they bested the competition at the 24th annual cookoff to raise money for the Eastpoint Volunteer Fire Department.

But it wasn’t by much.

The Double D team finished just one point ahead of runner-up Bigfish Cafe on St. George Island, captained by Clint Taylor, which earned the team $750. In third place, also a mere one point behind, was 10-4 BBQ, led by John Solomon and assistant Philip Sapienza. which brought them home $500.

Honorable Mention, and a $250 prize went to J Dawg BBQ, led by Jay Humphreys together with the island’s Jimmy Crenshaw, last year’s winner.

Blessed with a sunny day, the cookoff drew a steady crowd and 14 competitors, all judged by a 10-person crew led by certified judge and table captain Gail Riegelmayer.

Fire Chief George Pruett said final totals have not been tallied of the proceeds, but that the silent auction had yielded $5,000 for the department. 

He said proceeds will go towards making the final payments on a $349,000 2020 Toyne Class A pumper the department bought four years ago.