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Mar 31, 2024

East Helena hosts first

As the weather gets warmer, many people are taking the opportunity to cook and eat outside. Here are three common barbecue mistakes that you should avoid making. East Helena welcomed its first-ever

As the weather gets warmer, many people are taking the opportunity to cook and eat outside. Here are three common barbecue mistakes that you should avoid making.

East Helena welcomed its first-ever national-qualifying barbecue competition over the weekend, featuring 24 teams from across the western states competing for a charitable cause, as well as the title of grand champion and sharing more than $9,000 in cash prizes.

“Talk of a four-hour backyard-style barbecue turned into this, the East Helena Smoke Show,” Ryan Luchau, executive director of Impact Montana, said.

Kick Back Barbecue, owned by Jessie and Aaron Kochman out of Belgrade, prepare to serve up some meat at the East Helena Smoke Show.

Missouri River Brewing Co. hosted this fundraising event on Saturday and Sunday for Impact Montana in collaboration with the local barbecue community, who wanted to bring that fire to Montana.

“We were so lucky to get so many teams here; we were hoping for 15 and got 24 entries,” said competitor and event collaborator Anthony Schaan. “Within the first two weeks, 12 teams signed up.”

For a competition to be considered qualified, it must have at least 15 competitors. The Kansas City Barbeque Society, a Missouri-based competitive cooking organization, sanctioned the East Helena event, which they said was a first for the Helena area. The KCBS administers the rules, provides qualified judges, and assists in marketing the event.

“This is a one-bite competition,” said Schaan. “Judges get one bite, and you need to pack as much flavor in that one bite as you can.”

A pork plate from Montana Outlaw BBQ is ready to be judged Sunday by the Kansas City Barbeque Society at the Smoke Show in East Helena.

The barbecue style is that of the traditional Kansas barbecue, so most dishes were made on the sweeter side and required four types of meat: chicken, pork ribs, pork butt and brisket.

“If you ate a whole dish made for the judges, you would get sick,” said Calvin Richards, owner of Bad Betty’s Barbecue. “There is a reason it is called one-bite competitions. The meat is made to make an impact, not like what you would serve at a restaurant.”

Richards said this was a very successful event for the first one and said that for an event to be successful, it needs something other than the competition. The smoke show provided music, vendors and “Dunk the Sheriff.” Most of the vendors and competitors were drawn to the smoke show because the competition was a charitable event.

“I came to support this event, and it was for a good cause,” said Montana Outlaw BBQ. “It is also nice to have a qualifying competition in our own backyard.”

Montana Outlaw BBQ is a family-owned business based out of Billings that travels west and mid-west for competitions and has won 10 grand championships.

Montana Outlaw BBQ had shrimp skewers for sale on Sunday at the Smoke Show.

This was the first competition Bird Dog BBQ has competed in. Bird Dog is owned by Melissa Gallagher and Gardy Bender from Deer Lodge. They have been catering and competing for two years.

"We did one backyard kind of competition, and that is nothing compared to this," Gallagher said. "We're just here giving it our all, may not be enough to win but for our first event I am happy with it."

This was also a first for Double Barrel Ice Cream, making their debut this weekend serving ice cream at the smoke show. Double Barrel is local to Helena and is run by Ashley and Austin Young, who also run a wedding and event venue.

Aubrie and Asher, right, from Texas enjoy ice cream at the Smoke Show in East Helena.

Austin said his ice cream truck is unique in how it's made. They use an engine from the '20s and '30s typically used for pouring sawmills. He said the machine is hit and miss, so their slogan is, “Always a hit, don’t miss it.”

The engine that makes the ice cream for Double Barrel Ice Cream at the East Helena Smoke Show.

Some competitors also sold food, with 30-40% of the sales donated to Impact Montana, a nonprofit that supports Montana’s service members, veterans, first responders and their families.

“Impact Montana is a grassroots organization that is funded by Montanans for Montanans,” Luchau said.

Montana has four competitions; the next one is in Bozeman in three weeks.

The band plays at the East Helena Smoke Show on Sunday.

Arizona-based Rhythm 'n QUE took home grand champion honors. In addition to their grand champion hardware, the team will head back to Phoenix with several other awards including:

The Double Barrel Ice Cream stand at the East Helena Smoke Show.

Anthony Schaan pulls some smoked ribs at the Smoke Show competition.

Pork butt rounds from Montana Outlaw BBQ in the East Helena Smoke Show.

Anthony Schaan pulls some smoked ribs at the Smoke Show competition. Schann is retired National Guard in Helena and has been competing for six years.

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As the weather gets warmer, many people are taking the opportunity to cook and eat outside. Here are three common barbecue mistakes that you s…