Blue Ridge Barbecue is back on

The Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival in Tryon will heat up the coals again this spring, after the Carolinas Foothills Chamber of Commerce got more than $80,000 in donations to keep the festival alive.

“Cook teams and festival goers will enjoy the same Festival they have come to love over the years," said festival chair Dale Musselwhite. "We’ll just be running a much tighter operation behind the scenes.”

The festival, now scheduled for June 11-12 at Harmon Field in Tryon, includes music, a craft fair, carnival rides and food from a number of barbecue vendors. Admission is expected to be $6.

In addition, the barbecue competition usually draws barbecue teams from all over the country to compete. The contest was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society; with Memphis in May, it is one of the two chief organizations that recognizes barbecue winners. Winners of KCBS contests are invited to the Kansas City Invitational and are eligible for a drawing for teams to attend the Jack Daniels Invitational.