File photo of Matt Whitaker and Jake Netzley from the Cache Food Pantry prepare freshly smoked ribs to deliver to some of their donors on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022.
WELLSVILLE – The American West Heritage Center and Cache Community Food Pantry are gearing up for another smoker competition. This year’s Cache Smoke Out will be held on Friday, July 21 and Saturday, July 22 at the American West Heritage Center located at 4025 S. Hwy 89-91 in Wellsville.
“This year we have expanded the cooking menu and included chicken, pork butt, ribs and brisket,” said Matt Whitaker, the administrator for the Cache Food Pantry. “Friday night we will have a steak cook off. Last year we only had the contestants cook pork ribs and chicken thighs.”
The competition last year gave the American West Heritage Center and the food pantry each a $5,000 boost to their budgets.
“We had 22 teams competing in our first competition,” he said. “This year we are hoping to get 45 to 50 contestants.”
There will be one judge for each team and there will also be some celebrity judges again this year. Contestants can either do the two-meat competition, chicken thighs and ribs or a four-meat competition. The four-meat competition adds brisket and pork butt.
“This year we would like to have the contestants cook enough meat to give the public a taste of what they are cooking,” Whitaker said. “Last year we gave away a pizza oven and BBQ Pit Stop gave away a smoker as one of our prizes.”
BBQ Pit Stop’s manager Brian Adams offered a lot of advice and was a major sponsor last year. New this year his company will be sponsoring a steak cooking competition.
“The winner of last year’s competition winners walked away with over $2,000 in cash,” Adams said.
Adams rescued one contestant last year. The contestant from out of Cache Valley got there and his smoker wouldn’t work so the BBQ Pit Stop let him use one to finish out the competition.
Adams said they also gave away a smoker and went in half with another sponsor to give someone a pizza oven for a prize.
“Last year’s competition was amazing. We had a a great turn-out for the first year and this year we hope to have twice the entries,” he said. “We a have lot of people excited about this year’s smoke out. The money raised will go back to a couple of great non-profit organizations.”
Adams would like to see more people at the competition this year.
“We need the public’s support. It would be nice to see the surrounding communities come check it out,” he said. “The competition guys we will be there.”
The competition is an addition to the Pioneer Day Celebration going on during the at the American West Heritage Center.